Lucy Power Project!
by Tyripiri
Summary: It was 4 months until her 3rd publication, and at 24 years old, she decides to bring in the new system - The Lucy Power Project! Goal: Get boyfriend before publication date! AU; NaLu. Review! [[SUMMARY CHANGE]]
1. Le Project Lucy

**Lucy Power Project!**

**She's merely an author taking inspiration from her favorite coffee shop, but she's waiting for that Prince Charming just like the princesses in the fairy tales.**

* * *

**Slightly based off _The Mindy Project_... I've never seen the beginning, so I dunno what happened in the first few episodes/first season. I'm just going with the flow, here. xD  
**

**I don't own Fairy Tail.**

**Nor _The Mindy Project_, for the sake of it and just in case.**

****UPDATE: Fixed spelling errors... and other stuff.  
update2: Fixed other errors and (hopefully) regained the flow of the story for new readers who are reading this story in one go c:  
****

**_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing._  
**

* * *

_1: Le Project Lucy  
_

_Lucy comes back from another day at her editors, in process of perfecting her new bestseller that was going to be on the shelves in a couple of months. Online dating doesn't seem to be as easy as publishing drafts online and getting positive responses. And it clearly wasn't._

* * *

"What a day," Lucy sighed, leaning against the back of her door as she closed it shut. "A few more months until my 3rd novel."

"Ah, Lu! You're back," her best friend, Levy, came over to her with a mug of coffee. "How was it?"

The blonde woman groaned, smiling a little as she took the mug from Levy's hand. "Well, I'll be honest - it wasn't the worst day I've had at the editors. I mean, remember when I was working on the second novel with the editors in, um, Osaka? I mean, that was a pretty big pain in the ass." Lucy laughed at the memory as her best friend quickly joined in.

Levy wiped a tear from the corner of her eye with her finger, being careful not to smudge the mascara that was applied. The woman sporting blue hair glanced at the clock by the wall. "Oh, sorry, Lu! I promised that I'd be meeting Erza at the library to look for some books. I'm only going with Erza because I thought you'd be back later and all, but if you want to come along, you can!"

Lucy smiled a little, but shook her hand. "No; I've had enough chaos and the lot for one day. Maybe next time, okay?"

The author's best friend smiled as well, nodding her head in understanding. "Okay. That's fine. Oh! How about you go to Fairy Tail and maybe get some sort of inspiration for your next novel?"

Lucy furrowed her brows, but nodded nonetheless, placing her now empty mug on the coffee table near her. "Yeah - I don't see why not. Despite the fact that my current novel isn't going to be on the shelves until, like, February next year."

The blue-haired woman let out a 'Eh?', as if shocked that the date that the novel was going to go on sale on was so far away. "But that's going to take forever, Lu! I mean, can't I read some of your amazing drafts?"

The author blushed slightly, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder, following her friend out of the door as she closed it behind her and locked it. "No! I mean, that's private, Levy. No one can read my drafts, whether you're my best friend or not."

"How about boyfriend?"

She stopped in her tracks, choking on her own spit, also nearly tripping her own two feet. "What do you mean, 'boyfriend'?! I don't have a boyfriend, Levy!"

The blue-haired woman sighed and grabbed Lucy's wrist, dragging her out of the building. "That's the whole point, Lu. You need a boyfriend. I don't care if you're a best-selling author who's 24, you need a boyfriend regardless!"

Lucy sighed, and frowned, as the two stopped in front of Fairy Tail, a famous coffee shop that was known all around the country and that was busy nearly at all times.

Levy let go on her friend's wrist and saw her other friend, Erza Scarlet, in the distance where the library was. "Sorry, Lu. I have to leave you here. Good luck, okay? Don't get squished in there, because... well, it's pretty packed."

The best-selling author smiled and nodded. "Yeah, sure, go ahead. I'll be fine. I'll figure something out one way or another, right? Like in the books!"

Levy laughed, and nodded as well, before giving her best friend a quick hug and a wave and then running off to the woman in the distance.

Lucy sighed, clutching the strap of her bag and pulling the glass door of the coffee shop open, being greeted by music and conversations merged into one blob of noise.

Somehow, she found it comforting and maybe even the best type of surrounding to get her inspiration.

"Ah, Lucy! You came, today. How was the editors?" Mirajane, the main cashier, asked as she gave another customer their order.

Lucy groaned, mirroring her actions that she did when Levy asked her. "Ugh - I've had worse days, y'know."

Mirajane gave her a light laugh. "When's the book going onto the shelves - do you know?"

The author smiled and nodded. "Sometime in February next year. I'm not sure on specific details, but my agent said that she'd tell me some time before the actual release date. If I find out, I'll post it on Twitter or something."

The white-haired woman nodded and gave a few other customers their order, giving them their change and laughing lightly at their jokes.

Lucy was a regular customer, and was friends with a lot, if not all, of Fairy Tail's staff. Today, most of her favorite staff are here today, even including a pink-haired man who seemed to have a scaled scarf on him at all times, and a black-haired man who argued with the former worker everywhere, but also has this weird habit of stripping off his clothes at the worst times.

And she didn't even know their names - only Mirajane's.

She finally settled in at one of the tables in the corner, but also by the window, where she could listen to the hustle that was going on and still concentrate simultaneously.

Lucy dug her hand into her bag and pulls out a small, cute notebook with a small blue cat on the front which also had wings. She opened it and flipped through the pages until she landed on a blank one which was also near the back of her notebook.

The woman pulled out her pen from one of her pockets from the inside of her jacket and took the lid off, the object clutched in her hand hovering over the paper before it's pressed against the piece of tree, smoothly scribbling down every idea that pops into her head.

"Excusez-moi, merci," she suddenly heard, her heading shooting up at the voice.

She saw a familiar pink-haired man come into her view, sighing as he placed the tray in his hand on her table, being careful not to spill or knock anything over.

She smiled at him, and moved her notebook closer to her. "Thank you," she thanked. "But, your French accent - it needs improvement."

The waiter scoffed. "Shut up. I know you're a best-selling author and all, but _seriously_? You didn't have to comment on my French."

The woman shrugged, grabbing one of the two scones she had been given from the waiter. "Well, I just did." She bit at the scone and moaned in delight. It was one of her favorite things off the menu, but she didn't bother going through every single thing and ordering everything otherwise she'd get fat and would have to work said fat off and she wouldn't have any time for that because she's either at her editors or at the Fairy Tail coffee shop writing drafts from scratch or at home reading or at the library with Levy.

It's either one or one of the others, really.

She waved the pink-haired waiter off and watched him sink back into the large crowd that was flooding in and out and vice versa - it was practically going on forever and ever.

She watched the people go past her as they queued up for a specific cashier, or sometimes just because that line was shorter, until the other line was shorter, thus, they hopped into the other one.

It was fascinating, despite the fact she sees this nearly everyday around this time of day; when she comes back from the editors in Akihabara.

However, in the morning when she comes before she sets out to Akihabara, it's nearly always practically empty. The staff are only just coming into the workplace, and she found that inspiring to her. Some of them would greet her with actual words, others would just do a normal hand gesture.

It wasn't unusual, but today was Wednesday and Wednesday is usually the day where there's a special type of pastry on the menu for the day. That's how Fairy Tail attracts so many customers. And the fact that some of the workers are famous people for all over the world.

One was from America.

Another was from Australia.

About two people were from Russia.

And there was that one person from Argentina.

Luckily, the best-selling author actually paid attention in her classes and good enough grades to get her Literature degree in the University of Kyoto before moving to Tokyo and meeting Levy, the Fairy Tail staff and Erza Scarlet.

"Ah, Lu! I knew it was you I saw the window!"

For the second time, Lucy looked up and saw her best friend and a friend she didn't really know deeply. "Hello, Lucy. Levy and I decided to get a book for you; we thought it'd boost your inspiration for you next novel," Erza Scarlet said, digging her arm into a bag before pulling out a large, paperback book.

She carefully placed the book on the table and pulled out the chair next to Levy's, putting her stuff down next to her.

"By the way, I never knew this coffee shop would be so popular! I mean, maybe someone posted it on Facebook or something? Or maybe those guys actually made a Facebook page? Or a Twitter account! Or an Instagram!" Levy exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Lucy smiled for what seemed the millionth time that day, and chuckled, taking the book that Erza put on the table off the table, simultaneously picking up her bag and dropping the novel in. "Well, I'm not sure. But I could always go and ask Mira."

Erza then stood her, brushing one of her scarlet strands behind her ear. "Rest assured; I'll ask Mirajane," she said, smiling and swiftly pivoted, making her way back into the packed crowd that seemed to be consisting of the same people that there were 5 minutes ago.

* * *

People had finally filed out of Fairy Tail, and they eventually closed after no customers in 10 minutes.

For one, they were majorly exhausted; they hadn't had this much customers in... ever, really.

"Whoo, what a day! When was the last time we this many customers ordering coffee and scones and shit?" the pink-haired waiter asked, grinning a little.

Mirajane sighed, finishing up counting the yen then had aqquired in a day's work. "Well, Natsu, I'd tell you the amount of yen we've gotten today, but after I double check, as I don't want to fail Master!" She hummed happily before recounting the yen, the scarf-equipped male scoffing before he went behind the counter to pour himself a mug of coffee.

"Look, jackass, we're talking about 50,000 customers from 6 this morning. This author - what's-her-face? - came in and ordered a cappucino and blueberry scone? Ain't she famous or something?" the black-haired male who was currently topless asked, having no knowledge of Lucy in his mind.

The female cashier's eyes suddenly sparked with excitement. "You mean Lucy? Yes! She's a famous author! How come you've never heard of her before, Gray? She's been in all the newspapers since her second novel was on the bookshelves!"

The man called Gray scoffed like the pink-haired male. "Don't make me laugh - I've never come across a woman who's called Lucy in the Japan Times."

Mirajane's eyes lost their sparkle, frowning as she figured that none of her fellow co-workers didn't read newspapers or read at all. "Gray, did you read today's issue of the Japan Times?" she asked, leaning over the counter slightly, being careful not to lose all they yen she had counted up over the last few minutes.

She eyed the male before he slowly shook his head. "No. I mean, I don't use newspapers that much anyway."

The cashier sighed before she stood back up straight, sending one hand below the counter, pulling out a rolled up thing in her hand. She threw it to Gray, who caught the flying object, before unrolling it and blinking, his eyes scanning the title.

_\- November 7, 2016 -_

_The Japan Times_

He groaned, shifting his weight onto one foot. "Look, Mira, I really don't wanna be reading right now. I mean, I know it's today's issue of this, but really? Now?"

The said woman shook her head. "No. Turn to page 22."

He did what she was told, and turned to the page she told him to tell him.

_L.L. Ashley's Third Novel Takes Off In February 2017_

"Holy mother of God - _she's _the author or the _Mythic _trilogy?!" Gray exclaimed after skimming his eyes over the title. Mirajane gave him a small hum of agreement. "Wait, what's her real name?"

"Lucy Heartfilia," she simply answered. "She's really amazing, Lucy."

The familiar pink-haired man was heard scoffing once more with a full mug of coffee in his hands as he went in front of the counter to where Gray was, giving a look at the paper himself.

"Hey, I know that her third novel is coming out in February next year, but it's like 3 to 4 months until the actual date. Why so early?" he questioned, looking at the cashier who was messing with her hair in a nearby mirror.

She looked at their, starting to fix her front ponytail of her naturally white hair. "Well, I'm not so sure on that line, but I'm guessing it's to bring in sales in the first few days of release."

The two males nodded, showing their understanding.

Natsu sipped a bit of his mug of coffee and sighed a little. "They're pretty good," he suddenly commented, earning himself looks from the other two remaining staff. He looked back at them and blushed a little. "T-That's what I hear, anyway. I served her scones and coffee today. She told me to work on my French!" He quickly, though forcibly, turned a corner in the conversation.

Mirajane giggled, before pivoting to grab her coat that was nearby. "Well, to be frank, Natsu... you kind of do. Maybe ask Bisca for a French lesson?"

His face twisted into a disgusted expression. "No way. I hate French anyway; next time I'll just use Spanish or something."

"But you're not Spanish; you're Japanese," Gray countered, flicking through the newspapers to find some more interesting things to read about.

"Shut up - you wanna go?!"

The black-haired male closed the newspaper and threw it onto the nearest table. "Come at me, bro! I'll take you on!"

"All right! Here I go!"

In a matter of minutes, chairs were flying all over the place and no one seemed to notice the famous blonde author sitting in the same seat all alone, smiling at the chaos that had risen whilst ideas kept flowing into her head, one by one.

(Levy and Erza a couple of hours ago before all the customers had filed out, like, literally.)

(Lucy also found out that Fairy Tail made a Facebook page, a Twitter account and Instagram a couple of days ago but it never really went global until they had their first post on each of them telling the whole world that they had social pages and were accepting customers from all over the world. And staff from all over the world too, but that came in later once people started commenting and liking and sharing and reposting and retweeting their posts before that.)

* * *

"Welcome back, Lu! How was it?" Levy greeted, a wide smile on her face.

It was past midnight and the author's best friend was still as bright as she was this afternoon when she came back from Akihabara.

Lucy smiled and put her jacket up, her bag still in her hand as she walked in the direction of her bedroom. "Hey, Levy. How was your day with Gajeel?"

The blue-haired woman's face went red. "L-Lu! I-I - Me and Gajeel aren't dating!"

Lucy chuckled and turned on the lightswitch, her room lighting up. "Of course. You're just 'friends'."

The author opened her laptop lip and turned it on, the light reflecting on her smooth face.

Levy had followed the celebrity into her room and sat on her bed. "No, not 'friends'; friends!"

Lucy smiled and shook her head, brushing a blonde lock of her hair behind her ear as she directed her cursor to her Sleipnir internet browser.

Levy watched her friend type in the URL box a familiar dating website, and she was reminded that the author in front of her sitting in front of her laptop didn't have a boyfriend.

"It's no good, Levy. Online dating just doesn't work out for me. Yes, I'd love a boyfriend, but I'm so busy with the editors and Fairy Tail," Lucy complained, frowning as she swung around in her swivel chair, stopping in front of Levy. "I've already looked through all of today's matches, but none of them I actually like. It's a bummer."

The latter frowned with the former, getting up to hug her. "Sorry, Lu. How about going out and meeting men in malls and public places?"

Lucy pulled away and sighed. "They'll recognize me; you know that."

"Yes, but you don't know who won't recognize you."

"But I'm famous all around. Plus, I don't have much time to go to malls because I'm at my editors nowadays perfecting _Fenrir_, and when I come back from Akihabara at half past 3, I'm always at Fairy Tail straight after to get some coffee, scones, maybe to talk to Mira or even just write some future drafts. I have no time, Levy," Lucy explained, sadness filling her eyes as she inhaled and exhaled.

Levy mirrored her actions and finally stood up, brushing off the invisible dust off her orange dress. "Sorry, Lu... But I have to go with Gajeel to Osaka for a few days, tomorrow. Are you going to be okay when I'm gone?"

Lucy laughed this time, her attitude taking a 180 degree turn. "Of course, Levy. I'll be fine - no one's going to break in."

"You sure?"

"Yup."

"All right, then. Good night, and don't stay up too late!"

Lucy smiled and replied with a 'yes, ma'am!', even though the other woman was a year younger than her.

The blonde stood up and shut her door, leaning against it as her eyes travelled to her computer screen, suddenly lighting up, noticing that there was a message sent to her.

She went back to her laptop and clicked on it, carefully reading it.

"_Hey, saw your profile - I'm quite sure we have a lot in common. I'm not sure if I'm the guy you want as a boyfriend, but it'd a start towards 'the one', like in that Mythic series by L.L Ashley. Maybe we can meet up some day? Like, at a cafe or maybe that famous coffee shop in the center of Tokyo? Of course, you can always decline, but it would be nice if you would accept. I know this message is short and may not be up to other people's standards and may not persuade you to meet me, but I thank you for reading this. It's already past midnight and I apologize for sending this so late. To tell you the truth, I have been staring and looking through your profile for the past 2 hours and didn't have the courage to send you anything until now. I thank you once more for reading this._"

Lucy stared at the message on her computer screen, her hand twitching to reply though not moving.

It wasn't the first message she had received, but this was the first message she had received from a person who did not recognize her name. As far as she knew, she had been in the newspapers and global plus local news since her first published book reached one of the best-selling in Japan.

It was weird. She could reply to other messages, because they were from people who knew her name and knew her public figure as L.L Ashley.

However, this was different. This was from someone who hasn't read any of her published novels.

And she found it fascinating.

* * *

**Et voilà! I mean, I don't know that much French, but you know.**

**Everybody is living in Japan this story! I just hope I get things right this time. I'll be doing research and possibly fixing things in the future if I find out I've gotten parts wrong, but that'll be a little way(s?) down the road!**

**Okay, so, I don't usually type up 3.3k words for a chapter but I had to. I feel like this is gonna be successful. Like my other new ones. I'm supposed to update Super Fantastic Wonderland, but I haven't. Ugh. Well, we'll get there when we get there.**

**Ciao, guys! (Yes, I'm back in for Italian.) c:**

**(Btw, I'm so amazed I haven't put any cursing in this yet xD.)  
**

**(Hold on, scrap that. I proofread it and it does have cursing already. xD)**

**(WHY IS THERE NO STRIKE-THOUGH OPTION?!)**


	2. Le Electric Morning

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**The new chapter is here!  
**

**Enjoy and review. Thank you.**

**Warnings will now, from now on, be put at the bottom of the starter A/N every chapter of most stories.**

****_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing. _****

* * *

_2: Le Electric Morning_

_The famous author keeps the message from her mysterious admirer to herself, and heads out to Fairy Tail for her morning cappuccino and scone. However, instead of leaving straight after, she learns things she never would've learnt if she never talked to the other staff. As a result, she missed her train and ended up going all the way back to get a ride that made her over an hour late.  
_

* * *

Lucy awoke at 6 in the morning and got ready for the day with her editors, and she hoped that the year would end faster and February would come sooner so she could see her new book on the shelves of librarys all around the Tokyo prefecture and maybe even other prefectures around Japan.

She came out of her room and saw Levy sitting on the couch with a morning mug of coffee in her hands.

"Good morning, Lu," the blue-haired woman greeted, earning herself a small greeting back as the author made her way into the kitchen to pour a mug herself. "You gonna be okay in Akiba?"

Lucy turned around after pouring herself some coffee and smiled. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You go have fun with Gajeel, or something."

Levy blushed instantly, nearly spilling some of her coffee on her nightwear. "L-Lu! I already told you, me and Gajeel aren't an item! Besides, I've only known him for five months, and if we were dating, we'd be taking it slow!

Leaning aginst the counter, the blonde slightly smirked at her friend smugly, before glancing at the clock on the nearby wall.

She put her mug down on the marble counter and grabbed her bag from the couch and jacket near the hanger by the entrance. "Right, I'll be off to Fairy Tail then Akiba. Remember, don't get yourself killed with Gajeel, okay, Levy? I don't want to take care of you whilst I'm going to Akiba and back everyday."

Levy nodded, a bright smile on her face, mirroring the one that was on the night before. "Yeah! Promise, Lu! Good luck!" she exclaimed as her flatmate headed out the building.

It was only November yet it was as cold as winter and definitely not normal... November-weather. Then again, it could've been just a one-off, all in all.

Lucy headed down the all-too familiar pavement as she turned a sharp corner to walk down the street where her all-time favorite coffee shop was. It was cold, so she decided to walk slower this time. However, she didn't know it was going to be cold in the first place, so she just set off at the usual time.

"Morning, everyone," the blonde greeted, pulling the glass door open as she was greeted by warmth and familiar faces.

"Morning, Lucy!" Mirajane greeted from the counter, a smile on her face. "Would you like a cappucino and blueberry scone?"

The author smiled warmly and nodded. "Yeah. I might stay in a hotel in Akihabara today - Levy's out with Gajeel and Lily in Osaka for the next few days, so they'll be gone for a few days. Overall, don't expect me to come back and order some coffee, okay, Mira?"

The cashier smiled as well and nodded. "Yes, of course. I'll tell Natsu that his shift'll be cut short."

Lucy blinked. "Natsu? Who's Natsu?"

The white-haired woman gasped in shock. "Y-You get served by the same waiter everyday yet you don't know his name?!" she exclaimed, looking around to see if anyone was around to eavesdrop.

The blonde was slightly taken aback at Mira's sudden outburst. "N-No... I mean, he moves away so quickly that I don't really get a chance to even have a proper conversation with him."

Mirajane narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Hm, is that so? Define 'proper conversation'."

"'Proper conversation', to me, is a conversation that lasts more than 5 minutes. Our so-called conversation lasted 3. Techincally, it isn't a proper conversation," the blonde answered, shrugging her shoulder slightly.

"He told me that you told him to improve his French, yesterday when he served you."

"He's Japanese, isn't he?"

"Yes, but he's also British."

Lucy blinked, not expecting that statement to be said. "H-He's British? So, this Natsu's Japanese-British?"

Mirajane nodded, the suspicious look off her face as a bright smile replaced her previous expression. "That's right! Oh, here he is, now!"

"Okay, look, Gray, I don't care if you're on a date with Juvia or whatever her name is, you better come into work right now otherwise I will hunt you down and drown you in the next tsunami that happens in Japan."

Lucy turned around as well and watched the male walk into the coffee shop, yelling into his phone as his brows were furrowed.

"You piece of crap, if you say 'no way' or anything along those lines once more, I will _really _hunt you down. I will walk out of Fairy Tail and hunt you down."

"Natsu!~ Don't be so mean to Gray!~" Mirajane called out in a sing-song voice, causing the former male to be said to glanced at her and scowl.

His eyes focused on the white-haired cashier before they noticed the blonde author, his breath suddenly hitching in his throat, refusing to move out. "U-Uh..."

"_Hello? Hello? Oh, good. You gave up. Great. Right, tell Mira I'm not coming into Fairy Tail today 'cause, like, I have a date... so... see ya._"

Natsu heard the line close and he swallowed and slowly put his phone into his pocket. "W-Why...?" His question hung, half-spoken, whilst his eyes watched the blonde woman change her expression to amusement. "U-Uh, I, uh, like... uh... well..."

The waiter watched her giggle slightly, making him mutter bashfully under his breath as he looked away in an instant.

"Natsu, right? Me and Mirajane were just talking about you."

His head snapped back in her direction. His onyx eyes stared in her brown ones. "B-Bad-mouthing me?" he questioned, deciding to be cautious as he was glued to his spot.

No customers were in, so it was practically fine for a member of staff to be standing right by the entrance talking to a famous person who comes in regularly without disguise.

"Well, of course not," Lucy simply answered, smiling coyly. "We weren't bad-mouthing you at all. After all, I was just heading to the train station to head out to Akihabara after I got my cappucinno and scone, but instead, Mirajane held me up with information about you. Et cetera."

He blinked, his breath being hitched in his throat again. "W-Well, like, yeah. I mean... yeah. I'm gonna go get ready," he quickly excused himself, hastily dragging his feet across the floor and behind the counter to get himself ready for the work day.

Lucy laughed, spinning around as she faced the white-haired cashier once more. "Oh, that's right," she suddenly said, her brows raising in amusement. "Who's Gray?"

Mirajane raised a brow. "Hm? You mean the person Natsu was, well, arguing with?" She watched the author nod. "Well, he's a waiter as well, like Natsu, but you don't see him around you as it's so busy most of the time. They're actually childhood friends."

"Eh, is that so? Gray's Japanese-British as well?"

The cashier shook her head. "No, no. Gray's Japanese-American. It's just that Gray moved to Britain to go to school when he met this woman, Ul. Well, to be frank, he doesn't really tell much of his past, so I don't have much."

Lucy nodded in understanding, smiling once more. "I see. Oh, thank you," the woman said, taking the bag of small scones and the cup of cappuccino from Mirajane's hands. "I'd best be going - wouldn't want to be late for my train to Akiba, now would I?" She laughed lightly, Mirajane joining in after.

"Wait, Luce - hold on a second," a sudden voice called out, the pink-haired waiter coming out of the changing rooms, causing the blonde to stop in her tracks and glance over her shoulder, a small blush on her face.

"L-Luce? W-What kind of nickname is 'Luce'?" she questioned, pouting a little as she fully turned her body, the male noticing his sudden mistake.

He blinked, stuttering for a few moments, the two women laughing at him. "S-Shut up!" he eventually cried, scowling as he looked away. "I-It just kinda slipped out, okay? God, don't pester me so much."

The author sighed and smiled warmly. "For a person whose best friend is someone you argue with 24/7, I find you pretty cute."

She watched him being suddenly taken aback as he faced her, bashfully looking away once more. "Tch, I don't argue with Gray 24/7."

"I never said it was him, now, did I?"

He scowled at her, furrowing his brows, realizing that he walked right into her trap. "You - ! Just get to the train station to go to... well, wherever your editors are!"

She laughed for what seemed the millionth time that November morning alone, pushing the glass door open with her back, swiftly pivoting and walking down the road that eventually lead her to the Shinjuku Station.

* * *

She drank a bit of her coffee, though knowing she shouldn't be drinking or eating at the station or the train at all.

Glancing at the clock, she gasped in shock.

Lucy missed her train that was here only 3 minutes ago, and the next train that took off to Yotsuya Station which then took off to her destination to Akihabara Station was only going to come back in 5 minutes, which would make her even more late than she already was.

"Well, this is _really_ nice," the blonde muttered under breath, brows furrowed as a look of annoyance and irritation flashed across her features. "God, if only I didn't talk so much with Mira and that Natsu. But then again, it _could_ serve as some sort of inspiration." The woman started taking mental notes in her head, before he memory came across the message she got last night.

Yes, Lucy went by the name of L.L. Ashley in the book world and the dating world, but people on dating sites would recognize her straight away regardless. Her name practically said it all - she was the famous author who made the first two books of the Mythic trilogy.

Hence, she was surprised when the person who did send her the message didn't know her, after all, she was on the front page of yesterday's Japan Times for Pete's sake.

However, she decided to not dwell on it and waited for her train to arrive, only to hear an announcement that there was going to be track maintenance on the track she was headed towards for Akihabara and would have 20-minute delay.

"Like I said, _really_ nice!" she commented sarcastically, coming to a conclusion to walk back to Fairy Tail and stay there until the 20-minute delay was up. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to be about half an hour late."

* * *

"Hey, guys," she greeted the familiar faces for the second time that morning.

"My, Lucy! What are you doing here?" Mirajane asked, simultaneously giving a customer his change as he sat down at a nearby table.

The formee sighed. "Track maintenance, 20-minute delay to Akihabara. I don't know what to do any more. I mean, I know you're no therapist, Mira, but should I wait for the maintenance to end and hop on the next train, skip today's day at the editors, or catch cab to Akiba?"

The white-haired woman sighed as well. "Well, Lucy, waiting for the track maintenance to end would be too long, and you never know when it would end in the first place, so there would be chance that'd you miss yet another train to Akihabara. Skipping today in Akihabara woulx be majorly confusing to your editors, and that could send the wrong message to them, as if you're giving up on the book. Catching some sort of cab would cost money, and traffic would also get in the way, which could shoot up the price even more. Perhaps, do you know anyone who could drive you to Akiba, Lucy?"

The blonde shook her head and took a bite out of her scone. "Levy's with Gajeel and Lily in Osaka for a few days, so she's off the list. Erza's in England with Jellal for the next week, so she's also off the list. Your staff are working, so I guess you guys are off the list - "

"I'll take you, if you really need someone to."

Mirajane and Lucy looked at the person who offered.

"What about your shift?" Lucy questioned, looking a little unwilling to let him drive her to Akihabara.

She watched him scoff. "Shift, my ass. I'll be back by noon - it's fine. Right?" He craned his neck to look at the white-haired woman.

The woman he was looking at also looked a little reluctant to let the waiter take one of her best customers to Akiba. "Natsu."

He groaned, this time. "Mira!" he complained like a little child wanting more ice cream on a summer's day. "I'll be back before you know it - I promise!"

She still looked reluctant.

"Ugh, we have other people like Cana, Kinana, Elfman and Lisanna to cover my shift if I'm not back my noon, right? I mean, it's already - holy shit - 16 after 7."

Lucy let out a cry of surprise, shooting up from her seat. "I'm already 15 minutes late for work!"

"Hold your horses. It'll take us about 20 minutes to get to Akiba alone," Natsu stated in a matter-of-fact tone, heading towards the glass door as he pushed it open, the author hastily speed-walking through and ahead of him down the pavement.

The pink-haired man stepped away from the door and attempted to follow the blonde, but was quite fascinated by her immense speed. "God, you're some quick author aren't you? D'you write novels this quick?"

She abruptly stopped, which nearly led to him nearly bumping into her.

He watched her pivot around and face him, though he was about a few inches taller than her.

"Shut up and... shut up."

He huffed and saw her pivot back around and start walking again, at the same pace she was before.

"God, the nicest girl around, my ass. Thanks a lot, Mira," Natsu muttered under his breath as they approached the parking lot around the corner from the coffee shop, pulling out his car keys as he unlocked his BMW F10 M5.

He watched her expression change from childish anger to 100% interest in his car.

"You have the BMW F10 M5? How'd that happen? How long have you had it? How much did it cost?"

The questions kept flooding in, and Natsu started to have a hard time answering the questions, let alone registering them in his mind.

Clearing his throat, he decided to not bother answering the questions, despite the fact he had already registered some. "Look," he said, "how about we get into the car, and you can ask the questions when you've calmed down and shit, hm? We'll be there in about... 15 minutes, 20 minutes tops, depending on the traffic and the top speed I can go at today. Damn cops are a pain some days but real nice other days that they let me off when I go over the speed limit."

Lucy got in the car after him and admired the blue cat he had hanging from his rear view mirror. "Happy is really popular in Japan, isn't he?"

He hummed a little and started the engine, wincing a little when he accidentally stalled it for the first time in a long time - he was one of the best drivers in Tokyo. "Y-Yeah. D'you have some sort of merchandise of him?"

She turned her head towards him and puffed her cheeks out. "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I do! I have a notebook of him! I even have pyjamas of Happy!"

He nearly choked on his own spit as he drove his way out of the parking lot, making sure not to have any sort of car crash at 7 in the morning. "Pyjamas? You have freaking - ? How can you - ? How can you even get pyjamas of Happy in the first place?"

Lucy looked at him, somewhat innocent. "I was browsing one of the stores Akihabara and stumbled upon them. Nothing major," she replied casually. "What else do you have that's Happy-related?"

She glanced at how fast Natsu was going, and it was clearly over the speed limit, for starters.

"Natsu, what if you get caught?"

He took a small glance at her and chuckled. "Nah - no way. Gildarts wouldn't catch and arrest me. And even if he did catch me, he would just give me a speeding ticket that's like 9000-ish yen regardless of how much I went over the limit, so we're good."

"Natsu! Natsu! Natsu! We're going to crash, you piece of crap!"

She started screaming out of the blue, and he snapped his head back and started screaming as well, before successfully swerving the car to avoid crashing of any sort.

Luckily, the other car was safe as well, therefore no conflict was erupted.

The duo both sighed in relief.

Lucy ran a hand through her blonde hair, combing it back. "T-That was close. Like, 'look-ma-I'm-standing-close-to-the-gap-on-the-train-station' close."

Natsu laughed, throwing his head back as he re-adjusted his scarf around his neck. "What the hell - I never knew you were good at impressions," he said, looking in both of the side mirrors before heading back onto the road towards Akihabara.

"I wasn't," she agreed, using past tense. "Until I met this woman called Aquarius who was literally angry with me every time I was in her line of vision. She also always made impressions of me, so I basically learnt it off her."

"Oh?" Natsu questioned, raising a brow as he stopped at a light. "She one of your editors, or something?"

The blonde chuckled slightly. "Yeah. She was one of the editors of my first book - _Thor_. I was so scared of her that I didn't even go to Kyoto for a day. I just stayed at home with Levy and watched movies."

The waiter laughed once more, picking up speed as the light turned blue, swiftly turning around a corner as they arrived in the Electric Town of Akihabara.

Natsu looked at her and smiled. "If you want a ride back, in case you miss your train again or something, call me." Subconsciously, he winked and he didn't miss it by a chance as he slipped her a piece of paper. "Shit," he cursed, scowling a little. "Sorry, I just - it's a habit. This girl and I used to date and I used to wink at her all the time every time I dropped her off at her house and now every time I drop a girl anywhere from my car I just have a habit of winking at them when they leave and I'm really sorry, I'll make it up to you, or something. I'll promise that I won't get in a car crash or anything like that, okay? It's a really annoying habit by the way, so it's a pain when a woman who's close to me but a woman whom I'm not dating gets out of the car and I say 'bye', I just freaking wink at them so I'm really sorry, again and - "

He blinked in surprise when his car door slammed shut, though the paper was gone.

She had clearly taken it, and she had clearly absorbed the information that he had said in under 2 minutes.

"Damn, I speak fast."

* * *

"Hey, sorry I'm late. I got caught up talking with Mira at Fairy Tail in Tokyo and I got out late so I missed my first Akiba train and the next one arrived after track maintenance and a 20-minute delay so all I could pretty much do at that point was go back to Fairy Tail and wait for the 20-minute delay was up. But then I was offered to be taken to Akiba by one of the waiters and we nearly got in a car crash but we survived and he's a really fast talker and talk quite a lot in a really short time. Anyway, I'm sorry I'm late; I promise it won't be like that ever again," Lucy apologized after her slightly long speech, which carried on for a longer time than she originally planned.

One of the editors, Meredy smiled and shook her head. "It's okay, Ms. Heartfilia. We've only been relaxing since you hadn't shown up."

She raised a brow. "Relaxing? Really? You guys are so patient, you know."

Everybody laughed, but the atmosphere quickly got serious, which sent everyone in the room into silence for the rest of the morning.

* * *

**Sorry, for like, crappy ending - I rushed 'cause I was tired and crap.**

**Chapters will probably be like 3k words long, so... yeah.**


	3. Le Competence of Norse Folklore

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**This was fast.  
**

**Case 1: Los Angeles will hopefully be updated some time this week - I'm not sure _when_ exactly, but we'll get there.**

**However, on a unrelated note, thank you for the new follows/favorites for this story! Hopefully you'll stay with me until the end.**

**Enjoy and review, like usual.**

**There will also be no chance of Natsu being sick in moving vehicles, so, no vomiting from Natsu in this story.**

**NOTE: The Meredy in this story is the Meredy after the time-skip. The Grimoire Heart guild members are _Fenrir_'s editors. Time-skip Ultear is also included (before she casted Last Ages, anyway).  
**

******_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing.  
_******

* * *

_3: Le Competence of Norse Folklore  
_

_Despite arriving in Akihabara over an hour late, Lucy's editors didn't seem to mind, which was new for her - her first two editor teams ending up scolding her even if she was 10 seconds late. Suggesting lunch with her team was her idea of making it up to them, but one of the stricter members refused, which then led to everybody staying. Despite this, her book seemed to be coming along nicely, so she decided to call Natsu in halfway through his shift to check the manuscripts._

* * *

Lucy sighed, running her hand through her hair once more as she dropped her empty paper bag which also had her empty cappucinno cup in into the nearby bin.

She was over an hour late but when she arrived at her editors', there were paper planes all over the place, as if it was just some day off at the office.

Meredy, one of her favorite editors for the project, then stood up from her swivel chair with a bright smile on her face.

"We're already halfway through, so we should be able to put Fenrir on the shelves faster than expected, Ms. Heartfilia," Meredy announced, holding up the manuscripts they already agreed that they'd place in the book.

The 24-year-old blonde smiled in relief. "That's good. Should we tell that to the press? Or maybe before the book goes on the shelves?"

A black-haired woman also stood up, smiling as her purple eyes pierced the blonde woman's brown ones. "No, maybe we shouldn't." She walked over to Meredy and grabbed the manuscripts from her clutches. "We should extend this project until the actual release date in February. Make it seem realistic. I don't want to surprise people, or anything like that. I also don't want you to lose fans, like us. I mean, we love your books, especially the Mythic trilogy. Which could easily turn in a full-on series."

The blonde nodded, processing the simulation in her mind. She could communicate with more of the Fairy Tail staff, serving as more inspiration for her fourth novel, which could lead on from the third novel, which would turn the trilogy into a tetralogy. "Yeah, it could work," she agreed with the black-haired woman. "All right, then, should we get the rest of the book sorted?"

The rest of the editors team stared at her for a few moments.

"No." A male with silver hair and fancy, tinted glasses disagreed. "No, maybe we should take a day off. I mean, we're nearly finished and the release date isn't until next year, right?"

The same black-haired woman inhaled sharply, her brows starting to furrow slightly. "Rustyrose, you said you wouldn't do this."

"Do what, Ultear? You never did specify - I do lots of things," Rustrose countered, raising a brow.

That sent the black-haired editor over the line. "That's it! You're off the team!"

Lucy looked a little taken aback; this type of thing never happened before. "H-Hey, Ultear," she called, trying to calm the woman down. "You don't need to kick Rustyrose off. But, Rustyrose, you did say you wouldn't do this, though I would think we deserve a day off today. I really apologize for being late and making you all wait. I guess we all deserve a day off, don't you agree?"

The editors murmured in agreement, though another one stood up from his chair.

"No. We've worked everyday since you and your agent came to us to perfect the book and sort out the manuscripts. We're not stopping now, Heartfilia."

Lucy was about to exit the room, but swiftly turned around the voice. "Bluenote, it's never too late to catch a break. Come on, we'll get lunch."

"No." Bluenote walked over to the pile of manuscripts on Meredy's desk, picking them up and placing them on his desk.

"Hey, Bluenote! You have no right to do that!" Meredy cried, even though she was behind Lucy, following her out of the room for lunch.

The said male looked at her, his own eyes piercing hers, though she wasn't backing down either. "I do, Meredy. I am part of this editor team and I'm not taking a day off just before the author had shown up an hour and fifteen minutes late."

Lucy stared coldly at the male standing at his desk, trying to see through him. She couldn't, as a result. "Okay, fine." She sighed, giving up to attempt to drag him out with the team for lunch. "Let's not take a day off and let's go by Bluenote's orders."

Everyone who had already started to follow her grumbled in disappointment, dragging their feet back to their desks, Meredy being the last one to reach hers. "Bluenote, give me back the manuscripts. I need to double-check with Ms. Heartfilia that we are putting the right manuscripts in the actual book."

The male glanced at her, staying silent for a moment. "Fine," he grumbled. "Go take it."

The woman stomped over to his desk, her hand hovering over the pile for a moment. She then successfully snatched the manuscripts off him and stomped back over to her desk in a slightly grumpy mood.

The blonde author sweat-dropped. She was certain that she had never had a editing team like this, but she found it quite fascinating. Suddenly, she had a good idea to make use of the number she was given earlier this morning. "Hey, guys?"

Her team looked at her, some with bored eyes whilst others with somewhat amused looks. "Is it okay if I call someone to, like, check the manuscripts with me?"

They all looked at each other, as if having some sort of telepathic conversation amongst themselves. Then, Ultear stood up, her lips curled up in a smile.

"Sure," she answered, the others nodding as well, as if afraid to actually speak up after her.

The blonde looked a little sceptical about the idea now that it was said aloud. It certainly sounded better in her head, that was for sure.

She grabbed her phone from her bag and dialled in the number that was written scruffily on the piece of paper.

* * *

"Here's your order, ma'am. Enjoy."

Natsu sighed, running a hand through his pink locks as he scanned an overview of the cafe. He had just given a woman and her kid their order, and he now had nothing to do except wait for the crowd to lessen a bit so he could go for a toilet break.

He sighed once more, before he felt something vibrate in his pocket. He dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, looking at the caller ID. Taking one quick glance at Mirajane by the cashier and the size of the crowds at that moment, he slipped out of the coffee shop with some difficulty, though he got there.

He tapped the answer button, pressing his phone against his ear. "Hello?"

"_Hi, Natsu? It's Lucy._"

He blinked, his heart somewhat starting to beat faster out of nowhere. "H-Hi, Lucy. Why are you calling? Do you want me to pick you up? Are you hurt? Did someone hurt you?" She hadn't even started yet he was already making so many scenarios both aloud and in his head.

"_What?_" She sounded a bit taken aback. "N_o, I'm fine. I'm completely fine, thank you very much. Anyway, I need you to come to Akihabara._"

He groaned. "Again? I'm the middle of my shift - I can't just quit and come to Akihabara when you need me to, you know."

"Hm, then... how about telling Mira that you have to rush to Akiba, or something?"

Sighing, he thought about it for a moment. "Lucy..." he paused, not knowing what to say. He could hear her quiet breathing from the other side. "Fine, I'll ask Mira."

He heard her chuckle slightly. "Yeah, sorry about this. I'll make it up to you, I promise."

He scoffed, making his way back inside the coffee shop as he pushed past people. "Doubt it."

He then hung up and went over to Mirajane. "Hey, Mira. Is it okay for me to cut my shift short? I need to head out to Akiba."

The white-haired woman took a quick glance at him after giving one of the customers' her order of muffins and latte. "Yes, that's fine. I'll ask Kinana to cover for you," she accepted, pausing in her routine of her job to look over her shoulder to call a purple-haired woman over.

"Yes, Mirajane?" the woman asked, supposedly Kinana.

The cashier smiled a little. "Do you mind taking over Natsu's shift for the rest of the day? He said that he had something urgent to do."

The purple-haired woman tilted her head slightly in confusion, but nodded regardless.

"Thank you," Mira said, smiling as well as she continued giving and getting specific orders from the customers.

* * *

Natsu decided not to go as fast as he did this morning since he nearly got into a car crash. Without Lucy there, he either would've been dead or in a coma by now. Luckily he wasn't.

He yawned, stopping at a red light, his eyes suddenly becoming half-lidded out of lack of sleep. "Ugh, God, why did I wake up early in the first place?" he muttered under his breath as his eyes stayed focused on the light, waiting for it to change color. "C'mon, man. I wanna get to Akiba already. I have this urgent thing, you know."

"What urgent thing?"

He nearly screamed at the voice and suddenly remembered that he had his window down, meaning that nearby people could hear him mutter to himself. He looked outside and saw a familiar face driving the car next to his.

He blinked, trying to get the sleep out of him. "Oh.. uh.. hi." He could remember the name later - he was too tired right now. Oh, wait, screw it - he just remembered his name. "Uh, Laxus... hi."

The man in the other car raised a brow. "Yeah, hi... You look... I dunno - exhausted. You with a girl?"

Natsu scoffed lightly, pressly slightly on the gas pedal as the traffic light started to fade from red. "Nah. No way, man. I already dated one so I'm not gonna go again. No point."

The older-looking man didn't have any time to reply as the light then turned blue, Natsu speeding off ahead of him.

* * *

The pink-haired waiter yawned once more as he parked his car on the side of the road as he found a perfect place for him. "So tired," he muttered, stepping out of his car for his face to hit the fresh breeze of Akihabara. "But probably worth it."

He started wandering about, unsure about the anatomy of the city, but decided to go along with it. "Shit, what's the damn address again?" he asked himself, digging his hand into his pocket to pull out a piece of folded paper. Unfolding it, he secretly admired the neat handwriting of the author, subsequently absorbing the information. "All right - this way!" he announced, pointing in any random direction ahead of him.

It took him another half an hour just to find the building itself, but when he did, he was glad that it was only 3 in the afternoon. Entering the building, he skimmed his eyes across the information that was given him next to the elevator, showing him what was on each floor.

_Floor 7 - Grimoire Heart Editing Office_

Smirking to himself, he entered the elevator when the doors hissed open, then pressing his index finger on the _7 _button, watching the outer ring light up in a blue color.

Suddenly, he started whistling out of boredom, some catchy tune replaying in his mind as the same catchy tune made its way out of his mouth in whistle form.

The doors then hissed open earlier than he expected, at he glanced up to see that he was only at the 4th floor.

A woman with black hair and a ribbon sitting atop it stared at her, her brown eyes piercing into his.

Stepping to the side, he let her in and asked her what floor she was going to.

"The 8th floor," she simply answered, readjusting her bag which largely reminded the waiter of the author that had asked for his appearance.

It was silent, and then then a small _ding! _was heard, signalling that he had arrived at his floor. He was seriously thankful otherwise he would've died out of awkward silence.

Looking straight ahead, he faintly saw two glass doors that weirdly reminded him of the coffee shop that he ditched to come all the way here out of tiredness. He quickly glanced over his shoulder to see the elevator doors hissing closed. "Well, no backing out now," he mumbled, as if he was about to stride into battle of dragons and mages.

As if he was actually striding into a battle of dragon and mages, he took in a deep breath, preparing himself for what was about to come - this was the first time he had even stepped in a building this fancy and an office this... fancy.

He pushed the door open, only to find himself staring at multiple people typing and scribbling things do, as well as yelling across the room for some sort of assistance occasionally. He saw a pink-haired woman who then walked over to a tall, black-haired woman who reminded him of the woman who was in the elevator with him until he got off on the current floor he was on.

"Hey, Natsu. You're finally here - it's about time."

He jumped slightly at the voice and turned his head to see the familiar, famous author smiling at him as she came over. He stammered slightly, unsure what to say. "Uh, uh, well, uhm, I-I-I, kind of... yeah."

Lucy laughed a little, suddenly grabbing his wrist and pulling him somewhere that was not the main office. "W-Where are we going?" he finally got out, looking over his shoulder occasionally.

They both arrived at a desk with papers scattered all over it, making him wonder what was going on.

"I asked if I could ask you to come here to double check the manuscripts for me, because, to be frank, I don't really know anybody else's phone number apart from yours. And, of course, I know Levy's and Erza's, but they're out of town and coutry so I couldn't really get them to come here in an hour, could I?"

He blinked, looking down at the papers, his eyes skimming over them ever so slightly. "Hm, we could work something out here." He pushed her down in her desk chair, which caused her to squeak in surprise. He then walked away for a moment or so and came back with a swivel chair tripping over its own feet before he then stopped next to the blonde.

Sitting down, he cleared his throat, his brows suddenly furrowed as the serious in his eyes flooded in. Lucy had never seen him like this, and the sudden spark of inspiration ignited again.

She started taking mental notes for her future novel, also listening to the male mutter to himself as he reordered and messed around with the manuscripts, and she could see the gears working and the simulations playing in his head, before it was erased and replaced with a new one once he had reordered the storyline once more. She could watch him all day doing this if she could, but she knew she couldn't. She watched his eyes scan over the papers, reading over them before swiping the paper he had just read across the desk, putting it in a different position of the story.

It was true that he had read her previous books, which meant he knew the previous story before and what did happen to the characters. "This should go here, which mean this part should go after... Hold on, no... This part should go near the end... Hm. 'Cause this whole story continues from the previous one, this part should go here near the start, continuing from _Skadi_..." He kept on muttering to himself, somewhat knowing that the author was either admiring his attitude change or taking inspiration from him, and him alone. He played some more simulations in his mind over what would happen and when that certain part would happen.

Eventually, he had finally settled on a simulation he was happy with from the start of the manuscripts to the end of the pile.

"This should do it," he announced, skimming over them once more. He smiled triumphantly, snapping the blonde out of her trance. "Huh? How is it, Lucy? Good stuff, innit?"

She looked over the order of the papers and was amazingly shocked. She never knew he was good. Well, _this _good. Everything seemed to play out perfectly, and she loved how the story unfolded even more from the last book.

"Hm? How is it? Pretty good, ain't I?" he asked, sneaking a glance at her as he raised a brow in interest.

She turned her face towards him, smiling at him warmly. "No. It's not just 'pretty good'. It's amazing, Natsu. I never knew you were such an amazing... well... editor."

Bashfully, he smiled and looked away in embarrassment. "Thanks. I just tried to make the storyline... your style, because... well, I like your style and stuff. Anyway," he paused for a moment, extending his hand to the other side of the desk to get a pen and paper, "I thought I'd do a rough skeleton of this storyline, then you can fill it all in and stuff. So, we start off with Skadi standing on the cliff, overlooking the 'vast and tranquil view of the ultramarine waves of the ocean', right? It also says at the beginning of the manuscript that the whole thing is in Skadi's perspective until Part 2, right, which from then is Fenrir's perspective. Part 3 is basically nobody's perspective. Right?"

The blonde nodded, knowing what he was talking about.

"Good, therefore, shouldn't this be..."

* * *

Ultear shook his hand, smiling. "Really, thank you. I mean, this is quite amazing work. Natsu, was it? Again, thank you."

The male laughed a little and shook his head in embarrassment. "It's nothing much. I read a lot of Lucy's works and even found some drafts online. Yeah, I search pretty deep, so that's probably why." He glanced over his shoulder.

He saw the woman he was talking about burst into flames. "You little - ! How did you find them in the first place, anyway?!"

He shrugged. "I'm amazing."

They all laughed as the blonde puffed her cheeks out in embarrassment and anger as she looked away.

The black-haired woman then spoke up after their fits of laughter. "Oh, that's right." Natsu and Lucy looked at her. "How about you show up more often? We could use you around the place."

Snorting, Natsu looked away. "Uh-uh. No way. It took me, like, half an hour to find this place and I'm not risking another 30 to, like, find it again. Plus, I'm busy half the time in Tokyo with the coffee shop and crap, so I have to decline the... pretty good offer."

Rustyrose nodded his head in understanding, deciding to butt in. "How about becoming Lucy's personal editor?" he suggested, pushing his tinted glasses back in place.

The duo's faces burst into identical flames, before they looked at each other. "W-What?" Natsu choked out. "I mean, what? Become Lucy's personal - ? Hehe, no way, Jose. That's like - hehe, no. Like - never gonna happen. Right? Right?" He stepped back a bit and looked at the blonde.

Her face was red. "N-Natsu, like, you wouldn't, right? I mean, I made two best-selling books by myself without even knowing his name, so, I don't know what the rush is about. This is the first time I've ever even gotten Natsu this far into Akiba - so, again, no way Jose."

The two laughed exaggeratedly, before the laughter died down. "_So_, should I, like, go now, or what?" Natsu then asked, pointing to the glass doors that led to the elevator which could lead him to the ground floor if he doesn't press the wrong button.

He watched Lucy tighten her grip on her bag, and he smiled at her. She smiled back in a friendly manner, and he decided not to let his thoughts go further than they should.

"Yeah - let me go with you. I'm even surprised that you arrived in one piece this time. Last time you nearly had a crash, buddy."

Natsu scoffed and started towards the glass door, pulling it open to let the blonde-haired woman go before him. "Don't be stupid. Of course I arrived here in one piece."

"Hm," she said, unsure that she believes what she said. "Really? You didn't bump into anyone on the way?"

"No. Why?"

Giggling, she pivoted as she watched the elevator doors hiss open, welcoming the duo inside. "No reason."

He narrowed his eyes suspicously, but decided not to dwell on it and leave it be.

* * *

**Helloooooo!**

**So, uh, I got this epic review from Senbei x Cup Ramen (yes, I'm talking to you), and she/he/they/it(?) really made my day, so thank you! Actually, screw that. I don't want to offend anyone, so...**

**All of your reviews are epic, you all make my day! All the follows/favorites for my other stories as well also make my day - I love you all!**

**Now...**

**The chapter title is probably crap - I'll edit it later when I can think of a better one or maybe someone thinks of a better one xD Whichever comes first, really.**

**Thank you for reading so far, and _review_!**


	4. Le Gift of Agreement

**Lucy Power Project!  
**

* * *

**Well...**

**Homework... and alike.**

**Enjogy and review, guys!**

_**Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing. **_

* * *

_4: Le Gift of Agreement_

_Arriving back in Tokyo was easier than they thought, but saying what they bought that very day was harder than they originally anticipated. If they keep switching around, they'll never agree on anything at this rate._

* * *

Lucy smiled widely, lifting her head as she stretched her arms. "Today was such a good day!" she moans out, sighing in relief after a few moments.

Natsu watched her in amusement, smirking smugly at her. "Sure was." He glanced at his wristwatch and hummed a little. "You wanna go look 'round the stores? They're still open."

The blonde looked at him and pouted. "Really? I mean, I wanna catch up on what Levy's been doing in Osaka."

The waiter groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose and he closed his eyes tightly. "Can't you do that... whenever we head back to Tokyo?"

Snapping her head towards him, she looked shocked. "What do you mean, 'whenever we head back to Tokyo'?! We're heading back to Tokyo, now, dumbass!"

"C'mon, let off some steam, woman. I mean, you've had so many days where you're coming into Fairy Tail and I see you rushing to the train station when I just arrive, then at 40 after 3, I bring you coffee and scones!" Natsu exclaimed, before breathing heavily. "Wow, am I glad that I got that off my chest."

All of sudden, he was getting strangled and his precious scarf was being pulled. "That's my routine for every day of the year, Natsu. I have no choice but to rush to the train station when you only come and come back when it's the busiest time of the day at Fairy Tail."

Natsu couldn't speak, thus just pointed at the part of his throat that hurt the most at the moment. "C-Can't... breathe... scarf... let go... please."

He watched the famous author raise a brow, as if daring him to say more. As a result, he swallowed nervously. "C-Could you...?"

His begging eyes seemed to had done the trick, since Lucy had let go of his scarf, which he readjusts to make it perfect again.

She narrowed her eyes at him, eyeing the scarf. "You wear that scarf... even in freaking summer. What's wrong with you?"

Pulling and tugging at the garment sitting atop his shoulders and around his neck, he took a few, small glances at her and simply shrugged. "Nothing. Just that I can resist the heat... or something along those lines - I'm not sure what my doctor said."

Furrowing her brows in confusion, she shifted her weight onto her left leg. "So, in short, you have so high body temperature that you resist any type of heat?" she questioned as tapped her chin with her index finger.

He nodded slowly, his arms now crossed over his chest. "Something like that, I think."

The author decided to give up, knowing that he'll never be sure himself. "Whatever." She then turned around and started walking in the directions of the Electric Town shops that she wanted to visit so badly.

Natsu's eyes followed her retreating figure, and slowly took a step forward, following her footsteps at a slow pace. "Hey! C'mon, Luce! Don't just leave me here! I don't know my way around Akihabara like you do!" he yelled, trying to get her attention back, though failing. "Hey! Hello? Lucy? Luce?! Hey, c'mon, man! Slow down, will you?!" He started yelling singular words after her, scowling before picking up his pace after ending up catching attention from people other than her.

* * *

"I don't get why I'm the one who has to wear a stupid disguise. I don't wear disguises in your coffee shop yet people still don't recognize me," Lucy complained as she scanned her eyes over jewelry in one of the windows in the shops. "I mean, you... you're so mean, do you know that!" She swiftly turned around, coming face-to-face with the pink-haired man who was too busy staring over her to look at the jewelry on display himself.

The blonde in disguise looked at the jewelry in the window and back at him. "W-What are you looking at?" she questioned, narrowing her eyes as if trying to solve some sort of murder case.

He hummed a little, blinking out of his thoughts and looking at her. He was at least a few inches taller than her which made him have to look down slightly. "Not much. Just the jewelry."

Sighing, she rolled her eyes. "Well, yeah. I got that part. Why were you looking at the jewelry?"

"I'm gonna buy something. Be right back. Stay there. Don't move or I'll have to hunt you down and rescue you from some bastard who tries to capture you and shit."

She watched him dig his hand into his back pocket, pulling out a wallet as he approached the counter, pointing at the window as if he wanted a specific piece of the jewelry. The clerk behind the counter and approached the window, picking out the piece of jewelry that the waiter pointed at, to check if it was the right piece. From what Lucy saw, she saw the clerk pick out a diamond necklace.

Diverting her eyes, she viewed the male nod and take out an appropriate amount of yen to pay the jewelry. The clerk carefully placed the jewelry Natsu paid for in a little box, before putting it in a small bag and giving it to him.

"Thank you," she heard him say, before he bowed slightly and headed for the exit.

She quickly resumed her previous activity of looking at the jewelry through the window.

She felt a light tap on her shoulder, and craned her neck to see the male grinning at her. "Let's go, Lucy. We have, like the rest of Akiba to explore before nightfall," he stated, suddenly giving her the vibe that he had never been to Akihabara before in his entire life.

She just stared at him, before standing up straight without hitting anyone. "You've never been to Akihabara before?" she questioned, raising a brow as she watched him nod. "I see... well, then. This way!"

Natsu let out a noise of surprise, but let himself get dragged nonetheless. Minutes later, they were standing in line for what seemed like octopus. They reached tbe front with ease and ordered two portions of octopus.

"800 yen," the owner demanded, holding out his hand.

Natsu stared helplessly at the famous woman in front of him as he watched her pout. "700," she debated.

"No, 800."

The customer narrowed her eyes angrily and scowled, taking in a sharp breath. '"750, final offer."

The older-looking man grumbled in defeat and nodded reluctantly, the woman's attitude then taking a 180 degree turn as she reached into her purse to gather the right amount of yen. "750 it is!" she announced happily.

Once the two left the line, Lucg quickly stole her tray of takoyaki and had already started eating before Natsu could even pick one up from the tray. "A-Are these really that nice?"

Humming a little, the woman glanced at him. "Natsu, let me ask you a question. How long have you been in Japan?"

His eyes travelled to the orange sky for a moment, jogging through his memories. "Like, 14 or so years."

"And you've never had takoyaki?"

"No."

"You suck."

He groaned. "C'mon. Just tell me - are they nice?"

Lucy stopped in the middle of the road, which caused the taller male to stop in his tracks as well. "Ever had dango?"

He nodded, this time.

She turned around and nodded her head in understanding. "Good. They taste like dango, just 100 times better."

Staring at her, he then diverted his gaze to the tray of octopus in his hand. "Well, might as well."

He picked up one of the takoyaki balls and stared at it for a few moments.

He cringed slightly. "I don't... I don't think... I can't..."

She snapped her head towards him. "I dare you to continue. I spent freaking 800 yen on this - !"

"You cheated! You freaking made him go 50 yen lower!" he exclaimed.

Glaring and scowling at him, she stuffed another takoyaki ball in her mouth, chewing on it. "Shut up and eat or I'll stuff it all in your mouth."

He looked reluctant and hesitated, but decided to go with the procedure nonetheless.

He chewed a little, before he nearly gagged.

"Holy shit, this crap is amazing!" he commented, covering his mouth to avoid spitting anything out. "God, can we come here everyday just to eat the takoyaki?"

She shook her head. "Nope. We're taking a day off tomorrow, so we can go to Yokohama for the day, if you wanna come."

The duo started walking through the crowds again, making sure to stay close to each other so they don't lose the other.

Natsu groaned once more slightly, still chewing on his first takoyaki ball. "Can't. Busy. Friday. Busy. Plus, Gray's birthday."

She nodded, wiping her mouth with her tissue. "Gray's birthday, huh. So, you're also here to get him something?"

He shrugged, stabbing into his second takoyaki ball. "More or less, I guess. I dunno. I don't feel like getting him anything this year. He can have my gratitude and other crap like that."

Angrily, the blonde elbowed him. "Get him something. I'll help you."

Natsu hastily finished his takoyaki and threw his tray in the bin that they passed, before Lucy stopped in front of a store.

"What?" Natsu asked, swallowing the last of his takoyaki and wiping his mouth in a similar way that the author with the hat did.

"This store."

He looked up and stared at the luminous sign above him. "Hm... really? I don't think Gray likes pop idols that much. Just saying."

The woman sighed and grabbed his wrist, attempting to pull him in. "It's fine! He'll even love whatever we buy him!"

Natsu tightly shit his eyes, gripping the bag he had in his hand tightly before he opened his eyes again. "Luce, I told you, he doesn't like pop idols - holy crap on a cracker."

He scanned his eyes all over the place - this was like the biggest store he had ever been in.

"Holy shit - how big is this place?" he whispered, scanning his eyes over the merchandise as the woman still dragged him further into the store.

The blonde then stopped after a few minutes. "This. Erza showed it me before she went to England with Jellal. She said that Jellal wanted it as well as her. I then figured that he and Gray would have the same tastes and all."

The waiter eyed the object he was being shown. "I don't think Gray... would... like... you know, be interested in... this." Motioning to the merchandise around him, he gave the author a look. "I mean, really? Whether it's pop idols or, well, Juvia - whatever her name is - I think he'll choose Juvia over these."

Lucy sighed once again, shifting her weight onto her left leg. "Natsu, I know I haven't known you all that long - in fact, I've only known you for about 8, 9 hours."

The said man nodded, not really knowing what the big deal is about. "Yeah, so?"

"Just buy it, dammit!"

He groaned. "How much yen is it?"

Picking up the piece of merchandise, Lucy looked at the price tag. "350."

"Hm, should be able to bring that down a few notches."

She gave him the object and raised a brow. "How?" she questioned, hands now on her hips.

"Simple. I'll just seduce the cashier."

"What if it's a guy?"

Silence erupted from Natsu, noticing that he hadn't thought of that.

He then urged her push her in the direction of the cashier. "Go check!" he urged.

The blonde stuttered, nearly tripping over her feet. "What am I? A dog?"

"Pet's aren't allowed - "

"It was a rhetorical question, idiot," Lucy retorted, rolling her eyes and peeking around the corner to check the cashier.

There were three. Two were female and the other was male.

"Two female and one male," Lucy reported, staring at the male who seemed to be thinking of a strategy to seduce the cashier. "Hello? Natsu? Are you - are you even listening to me?"

She started waving her hand in front of him, before she decided to pinch him on the arm.

"Oww!" Natsu cried, snapping out of his thoughts as he rubbed the sore spot that sported his arm. "Yeah, yeah. I head what you said - two females and one male, right? Then we just seduce one of them, then, _bam!_, we're done - 200 yen for this... thing, for Gray."

The younger woman furrowed her brows in confusion. "What do you mean, 'we'? You're the one who's doing the whole thing. I'm just waiting for you outside."

Natsu laughed a little, shaking his head. "No, you're not. Plan is, you pretend you get into an argument with one of the female cashiers about one of the...pricey stuff, and I save the day and I seduce her with my super sexy voice then, et voila, there we have, again, this thing for 200 yen. Simple."

Lucy imitated his actions. "No. You're the one who's seducing her and all that douchey so you can get that for 200 yen instead of 350."

"No, no. I thought up the perfect plan, and you are the, hm, let's see, 'jerk', in this play."

"A-Are you calling me a - ? Okay, okay. Fine. Just pay the full 350 so we won't have any more trouble with this. I actually want to buy some clothes, and the shops are closing in about... 7 hours, so hurry up."

Groaning in defeat, the pink-haired male decided to give up debating with her as he finally experienced what the takoyaki stand owner felt. He slowly approached the line of males waiting to properly buy their item, but he quickly reached the front with ease. Luckily for him, he had a female cashier.

"My, what's a handsome man doing here? Are you here with friends so you can fantasize about the idols?" she asked, winking at him and placing his purchased item in a bag.

Scoffing, he shook his head. "Bullcrap. First off, I'm here with an actual woman that's waiting outside right now, and secondly, I'm gonna go now or she'll beat the shit out of me." He pointed towards the door before he quickly ran out.

The blonde who was waiting for him turned her head and saw the man with a devestated look. She chuckled to herself slightly as she tipped the hat that acted as a somewhat good disguise (judging that they had spent an hour in Akihabara and no one found them out yet). "So your plan backfired?"

Natsu shoved the bag in her face and simply looked away bashfully. "Shut up. My plan did _not _backfire. I merely didn't put the plan in action. She just freakin' hit on me!"

The blonde threw her head back, making sure to keep her hat in place as she took the store bag from his grip. "Oh my god! You got hit on! By a girl! From a cashier, no less!" she squealed, starting to jump up and down after she regained her posture. "Oh, I should've gotten a video!"

Natsu groaned and covered his face with his scarf in embarrassment. "Shut up and let's go buy some clothes that you want oh-so badly."

He heard the blonde laugh behind him as he led the way to find some sort of clothes store that would keep her occupied.

* * *

"Luce, please. Stop. You're killing me - you should know that by now," Natsu groaned, picking at his food. The two were currently at Tokachi Dining Obihiro Honkaku Butadon eating from the restaurant's lunch menu. "Just... okay?" He picked at his food some more before he properly trapped the meat from his bowl between his chopsticks before shoving it into his mouth in attempt to tune out the blonde as she continued to tease him, even whilst eating.

Lucy drank a little of her green tea and started laughing again after she put her cup down. It had been like this for the past 30 minutes and the pink-haired waiter was ready to find a hole, crawl in it and stay there until he died. But the blonde didn't let him go that easily. She kept reminding him of how his plan - which wasn't exactly put into motion, as far as his memory went - backfired on him and the female cashier flirted with him.

The male decided to eat a little bit faster, stuffing pork and rice into his mouth as he drank from time to time, making sure to swallow his food and not to choke and end up being treated the Heimlich maneuver by... well, the woman opposite him. Or some nearby guy, but more likely the author with the hat.

"Natsu, is something wrong? You're being hasty with the food."

The male stopped. He looked up to make sure he wasn't being laughed at - and he wasn't. Instead, the blonde had a piece of pork trapped in her chopsticks as if she were about to eat it, and was also looking at him with a concerned look on her face. "N-No. I'm fine, Lucy. I'm fine."

The blonde furrowed her brows in confusion and stared at him, before releasing the pressure on her chopsticks, dropping the piece of pork back into the bowl before she set the pair of wood atop the bowl. "Do you wanna go? I'll pay."

Natsu shook his head frantically. "No, no. I-I'll pay. I mean, you payed for the takoyaki earlier, so I owe you one."

Lucy shook her head in denial. "No, no. I should be the one paying."

"Luce, I'll pay this time, okay?" He had already pulled his wallet out and grabbed the right amount of yen for the whole meal.

The blonde saw the money already out and sighed, dropping her wallet back into her bag. "Fine. But next time, I'm paying."

Natsu thanked the cashier and turned towards the female, looking at her with curious eyes. "Hm? Next time? Yeah, sure. Wait - by next time, you mean next time we eat, not when you and some of your girlfriends go out to a bar and get drunk and crap, right?"

Giggling slightly, the woman nodded. "Yes. And the whole "when uou and some of your girlfriends go out to a bar and get drunk and crap," thing only happens in American stuff. This js Japan, not America, Natsu."

He scoffed, squeezing his way through the crowds as he quickly grabbed Lucy's wrist before she was squished or stood on or lost in the swarm of high school and middle school students that were starting to flood in. "I know, but that kind of thing is practically possible anywhere, if you think about it."

She raised a brow as they exited the main attraction of the Electric Town, approaching where they started off. "Really?"

"Yeah. I mean, you have gone to a bar with your girlfriends and drank a few here and there and got drunk and accidentally hooked up with a guy from said bar... right?"

He looked at her, unlocking his car as he approached it. He opened the door for the famous author, closing it once she had gotten herself in. He then waited for the right time to get himself into the driver's seat, the moment coming sooner than he expected.

"You have, though, right?" Natsu questioned once more, turning on the engine of his car as he stuck his head out of the car window to check if there were any cars coming or going.

He was met with silence, and drove out onto the main road when he had double-checked and waited for the right moment. "Lucy?"

Looking over to her, he tried to make sure he wasn't getting into any danger of crashing. "Are you... okay?"

"I'm fine!" she blurted out all of a sudden as she tipped her hat to cover her face up, as if in embarrassment.

"Look, Luce, I'm no good when it comes to these crappy guessin' games, but since we're kind of in that type of situation, I'm gonna ask; are you blushing because you've done that activity twice, including the hook-up part or because you've never done it before?"

He kept his eyes on the road ahead, steadily coming to a stop when he approached a red light.

"No. It's, um, it's just that... um..."

The pink-haired driver raised brow in inquiry. "No one else is here - we're good, Lucy."

"I've never hooked up with anybody. I mean, sure, I've gotten drunk and all, but not hooked up with anybody," she explained hastily, her brown eyes travelling to Natsu's face to see his reaction.

She couldn't exactly see the bottom half of his face as it was somewhat covered by his scarf, like it was when she teased him about the cashier.

And in a matter of seconds, Natsu was already speeding off once the light turned blue.

She could never tell him the whole story at this point.

"There you are! I was so worried about you two!"

Mirajane quickly hurried over like an anxious mother and hugged two mid-20 year olds.

"M-Mira? C-Could you... okay, yeah.. thanks," Lucy quickly stepped away. "We were just in Akihabara."

Everyone started murmuring and nodded in understanding.

The white-haired woman smiled at them. "What did you buy?"

"Stuff."

"Gifts."

The pair looked at each other when they gave different answers, scowling and started to have some sort of telepathic conversation amongst themselves.

"Gifts."

"Stuff."

Lucy took in an intake of breath and looked away, still clutching the bag that Natsu shoved in her face after he was being flirted with. "Here. It's yours, after all." She then shoved the small bag into his chest and clutched the strap her own bag. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," she bid farewell, pulling the door open and attempting to storm out, though it only resulted in some sort of embarrassed walk of shame.

Gray furrowed his brows in confusion, walking over to the pink-haired male, also attempting to look into the bag, though he couldn't in the end. "Are you sure you bought the right stuff, man?"

His fellow colleague blinked at him then the bag in his hands. "Well, I'm starting to think that I didn't, so... no."

* * *

**Publishing this before the weekdays start c:**

**Anyhoo, review, everybody!**


	5. Le Birthday de Color I

**Lucy Power Project!  
**

* * *

**Okay... so... maybe Case 1:LA isn't gonna be updated this week. Maybe another week whenever I get to it. c:**

**Well, the ideas keep flooding one after the other, and since each chapter usually leads on from the previous chapter (a day after or right after), so it works. Plus I'm also planning ahead, but I change it if I don't like it at last minute.**

_**Warnings!:** AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing.****_

* * *

_5: Le Birthday de Color I  
_

_It's Friday, and that means two things - a) it's the end of the week and b) it's Gray birthday and Natsu was not prepared in the least. But luckily, with a certain someone's help, he held a pretty nice image._

* * *

Groaning, Natsu rolled to the side of his bed, before he felt himself fall onto the floor, causing him to groan once more in pain.

"Get up."

The male groaned again, another side of him starting to show. "But I don't wanna."

"I said get up, so get up."

This time, he did what he was told, and was somewhat determined to find who the voice belonged to.

He looked around, taking in the features of the room.

Floral bed sheets.

Poster of... some pop star.

Yeah, this wasn't his room.

"Ugh - I'm coming, I'm coming..." he trailed off, attempting to get up by using the bed and the bedside table.

Natsu slowly stumbled out, holding his head as he leaned against the doorframe.

He felt like he was drunk last night.

But he remembered the majority of last night.

Huh.

"Natsu, right? Love Rival told Juvia about you two from yesterday, when you were in Akihabara after her work day. Love Rival told Juvia you also helped her with her manuscripts."

He attempted to blink away the sleep, and opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was dry.

He then saw a glass of water shoved into his face, and he blinked away more of the sleep to see who was shoving the said glass. "You want water, right? Here. There's more where that came from, so just drink it all."

He didn't exactly pay attention to what she said and grabbed the glass from her grip nonetheless, chugging it down in a matter of seconds. "Oh, crap, that's some good water."

He breathed out, his sleep finally out of his eyes. "Hey, Luce. Uh, hi, what's-your-face."

He looked over to a blue-haired girl whose hair was in curls at the bottom. "Juvia," she answered. "Ah, Juvia apologizes but Juvia will be going. Juvia has to see Gray!"

The blonde nodded, before she watched the other woman rush out. She then turned her head back to Natsu. Smiling at him, she helped him to the couch from the doorframe when he nearly fell over as if he was drunk.

Natsu murmured something under his breath and started to curl up on the couch, somewhat like a cat.

"So... you _do_ know what day it is, right?"

The pink-haired male murmured something else and gave her a dismissing hand, waving her away.

The blonde pinched the bridge of her nose and tightly shut her eyes. "Natsu, it's Gray's birthday, for God's sake!"

This time, his black eyes shot open and he yelped as he fell off the couch, his position falling apart.

Lucy just stared at the waiter on the floor, who slowly went onto his elbows and then arms to get up. "Oh... crap. W-Where's that thing I got him?"

The blonde sighed and walked out of the living room for a minute, before returning with a pink-colored bag in her hand. "You mean this? I had to pry it from you last night because you were hugging it and all for some reason. I spent half an hour trying to pry it, even."

Natsu nodded, not actually taking in the information about her trying to pry it from him. "Yeah, yeah... that. What time is it, by the way?"

Once more she pinched the bridge of her nose as she lifted her head up in exasperation. "It's a little after 8, honey. Now get up. Luckily Juvia's keeping Gray occupied for the majority of the day today, so we have time to get ready... Well, you do, anyway. I asked my team to take the day off today so I could wake you up and crap."

Natsu groaned loudly, still not really paying attention to the blonde author. "Yeah, yeah - I'm up! I'm up! Just... get me some clothes, I don't feel that good in these. Did I drink last night? I feel like I did. I feel like I have a hangover. Did we have wine yesterday when we went back to Fairy Tail? Or is that just me? My mouth tastes like wine. My mouth tastes like, uh, grape. Koshu. Whatever it is. By the way, what time did I go to sleep last night? Did I fall asleep in your room, Lucy? Or maybe did I sleep in her room? Or did I sleep on the floor? Did I sleep on the couch? What happened? I feel weird. I want different clothes. I don't like these clothes - "

"Oh, my God, Natsu! Just shut up already! I've already gone out and gotten you other clothes because I figured you wouldn't be all that comfortable!" Lucy exclaimed, exhaling deeply. "Sit down and I'll try and answer your questions."

The male quickly obeyed and sat down, his eyes wide, as if he was some sort of puppy, not wanting any sort of punishment from the owner.

Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose for the second time in five minutes. "Right, go."

"What happened?"

"Um, when we arrived back in Tokyo last night, Mirajane asked where we are and all that, right?"

He nodded eagerly.

"Right, good. You remember that. I stormed out - well, I attempted to, anyway - and you followed me here after a few minutes. We had a couple glasses of white wine and then you fell asleep and nearly crushed me - thank you, you heavyweight moron, I owe you one - and I dragged you to the couch so you could sleep there."

She saw the male cock a brow and tilt his head. "I don't get it. How did I... like... end up on your _bed _and not your _couch_?"

Putting up a finger in attempt to silence him, she shushed him and opened her mouth to continue her story. "First of all, you slept in Levy's room. And second, I dragged you there all by myself and it took me about an hour - thank you again, you heavyweight moron."

Natsu opened his mouth in protest of his weight."Oi! I ain't that heavy. I'm only 80 kilos, Lucy. That's a healthy weight for a 25-year old at my height."

"And how tall are you?"

"6 foot 2."

Lucy thought about it for a moment, before sighing. "Fair enough. Anyway, back to the topic at - do you want to change first? Because I've already bought your clothes and all."

Blinking, the 25-year old tilted his head in confusion once more, as if asking where the clothes she were talking about were. "Yeah, uh, I don't exactly _know_ where the clothes are."

The blonde quickly pointed in the direction of the bathroom, where he then walked in. Lucy watched him successfully walk in, and she then stepped into the kitchen herself to get a glass of water.

"Right, does today really have to be fancy dress? I don't wanna go in fancy dress," Natsu commented, his voice getting louder as he approached the kitchen, standing the doorway. "How'd I look?"

Throwing her head back, she drank the last of her glass of water, quickly lowering her head once more to place the glass in the sink as well the glass that Natsu had used to wash away the dryness of his throat. Lucy then turned around to face the male, and was quite impressed with the outfit she had picked for him.

It was simple, but effective. His blazer was dark red in color, and the tie that went with it was white in contrast of the dark color of the red. His dress shirt was a navy blue, and on him, it went well with his pink hair and his obsidian eyes.

She smilede and nodded. "Yeah. That's a nice style."

The blonde saw him nod as well, slightly, and then she walked over to him and inspected his badly tied tie. "Natsu, you can't tie a tie?" Lucy questioned, untieing his tie and re-doing it, tucking it into his dark red blazer once she had finished. "Didn't somebody teach you?" She knew from Mirajane that Natsu's parents weren't around him for very long until they disappeared, and was taken in by an old man who went by the name of Makarov and didn't seem to die then and now.

Natsu looked a little embarrassed, quickly moving his head to look away. "W-Well, yeah, but it was all complicated so I didn't remember it all. Besides, for events like prom and all that fancy crap, Mirajane or somebody who can tie a tie usually did it for me. They talked about how 'smart and dressed up' I was, until they started complaining about my tie. They cleaned up my tie whilst complaining, and they _still _complained even when they were like 5 miles away."

Lucy laughed out loud, throwing her head back. "Seriously?! Wow. Now, go. Mirajane said that she'll be helping you out with something else. I need to do something." She pushed him towards the door, her hand contacting with his back as he stumbled.

He made his way to the door, before he stopped before actually opening it. "Um, Lucy... I kind of... don't really know my way to Fairy Tail from here."

However, the blonde was already gone from sight, but he caught her head sticking out of her bedroom as she stared at him. "Uh, end of the road, turn left then just down there. Or something like that - you're in a car with a satnav, use the satnav!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms about.

"I dunno the address."

Lucy huffed as the blonde came out of her bedroom. "How could you not the address of your - ? Fine, I'll drive you."

"You can drive?"

She shrugged, walking into the bathroom. "More or less," her voice sounded. "Right, let's go," Lucy said, walking out of the bathroom with Natsu's car keys. She swung the door open and let the waiter go before her, before she locked it behind her, making sure not to use the wrong keys.

* * *

Natsu yawned, finally realizing that the sleep was getting to him again. "So tired..." he mumbled, glancing in Lucy's direction. She was going at a similar speed to his, but on a lower level.

If Gildarts stopped them right now he would just say that it was an accident and it wouldn't happen again. Or, Gildarts would give him a speeding ticket that was 9000 yen, tops, and they would pay it.

"L-Luce? Where are we going?" he then asked, shifting in his seat as he realized that they were driving longer than usual.

"Traffic. I'm taking the long route," she answered, lighting the indicator for the left. "Just sit there and smile for the next 5 minutes," she ordered, before she drove out and continued on their course.

Staring at the road ahead, he groaned, his head falling back as he closed his eyes. "Screw this; can't I just walk the rest of the way?"

He heard Lucy sigh. "No. It'll take you about half an hour and we don't have much time, Natsu."

Lifting his head up, suddenly not feeling tired any more, he turned his head towards her. "I thought you had something to do, Lucy."

"I do."

"Then why are you driving to Fairy Tail when you're, like, busy?"

"Because a) you didn't know your way from here to Fairy Tail, and b) I wanted your car out the way. Now shut up."

Natsu narrowed his eyes and scoffed, looking out of the window as he watched the buildings and shops go past him. "Hey, what was the thing you're supposed to be doing right now if I knew my way and crap?"

The blonde slowed down, as she started to drive at a slight angle before she stopped completely. "Nothing," she quickly answered, pulling out the keys from the engine and throwing them in his direction before she looked out for cars and getting out.

The waiter sighed deeply and dropped his keys into his pocket, before he opened the car door and stepped out. He then closed his door and locked the vehicle, looking around to find the author not in sight. "Huh. Maybe she, like, went home or something. To do... whatever she needed to do."

* * *

Her fingers glided across the keys, pressure being placed onto them as she typed word after word in the reply box. It had been 2 days since she had gotten the message and she hadn't told anyone. Not even Levy.

"_It would be a pleasure to meet you. Would you like to suggest a time and date?_"

Lucy and the male she didn't exactly know a lot about were currently both online, coincidentally, which led them both talking in a private chat.

"_Of course. How about Tokyo Skytree, Sunday, 3pm?_"

The blonde hastily jumped out of her seat and ran out of her room and into Levy's, knowing that her best friend is somewhat the more organized one out of them both.

She checked the calendar to see if there was anything happening on Sunday, and luckily, there wasn't.

She dashed out of the room, nearly tripping over her own two feet as she stumbled back into her swivel chair in her room. And that was what she loved about being alone in her apartment, without Levy. She could do whatever she wanted and could act in any way she wanted to. She could snack on ice cream and watch movies all day and not get scolded by Levy, especially after a day's work at her editors' team.

"_Of course, that would be lovely._"

"_Great. I can't wait to meet you._"

Lucy smiled to herself, glad that she chose today and not any other day to go on the site and coincidentally find that he was online.

She then checked the time at the bottom corner of her laptop screen and stretched in her arms in a similar way she did last night. "The party at Fairy Tail starts in a few hours, and I got Gray a scarf... I just hope that Juvia girl that Gray has apparently been hanging with a lot lately doesn't get angry and all. I still need to put Fenrir on the shelves!"

The blonde sat there for few moments, tapping her fingertips on the desktop in a rhythm, looking around her own room in awkwardness as the silence started to creep her out. She scowled to herself, pushing herself out of the chair and into the living room, where she decided it was more creepy with the silence. "Maybe I should just get dressed to make the silence seem less... awkward." Lucy couldn't think of a better word, and she wasn't exactly going to unless she gets given some sort of thesaurus.

* * *

Whistling to herself, she patted down her dress, tilting her head downwards as she checked her hair once more. Her hair, though in a messy ponytail at the back, was finished off with a bright red bow with light sparkles on it. The rest of her body was wrapped in a matching red dress with sparkles, a slit running down her left leg, leaving it exposed to the chilly November air. The shoes she was wearing were red heels which could even match with her dress and bow in the sunlight.

"All right, the party is in 20 minutes, which means Juvia will be arriving with Gray a couple of minutes before the party starts," Lucy stated, staring at the nearby clock on the wall as she did her calculations in her mind. "Right, let's go," she told herself, grabbing her door keys and opening her door before she locked them once more for the second time that day.

She hastily exited the building and immediately stopped once she took one step outside. "Damn, it's cold," she whispered, hugging her arms as she attempted to keep herself warm without a coat. "I seriously hate the fact that all the clothes I have in my wardrobe are just summer clothes, and there are absolutely no winter clothes."

Lucy shook off the feeling of the coldness and headed down the all-too familiar path, also regretting that she had no car, considering that she could drive Natsu's car as good as him. She turned a corner and breathed out a cold breath into her hands, which didn't help much as her hands were already cold as they were. The blonde scowled to herself, and even though she knew that her favorite coffee shop was a bit more than 100 feet away, she still hated the fact that she had to walk so far in heels, but she knew she couldn't run in heels on a chilly day like this.

The luminous sign of the Fairy Tail coffee shop came into view, and she smiled to herself. The shop was closed today for the occasion of Gray's birthday, but no customers seemed to mind as they walked past her, looking at her with weird looks since she wasn't wearing a coat of any sort. Lucy pushed the door open and sighed in tranquility as the warmth hit her at full blast.

"Lucy!"

The blonde closed the door to prevent the warmth from escaping, and turned her head to see the familiar white-haired cashier. "Hi, Mira. Sorry, am I late?"

Mirajane shook her head. "No, no! You're a couple of minutes early." She noticed Lucy's shivering. "My, did you come without a coat? Lucy, dear, come on, we'll get you some hot chocolate, okay?"

The author smiled sheepishly and nodded, agreeing to the idea. She watched Mirajane walk away and she then walked over to one of the tables as she sat down.

"Hey, you cold?"

She looked up from staring at the blank table and saw Natsu looking down at her, a small smile about to surface on his face.

He didn't look as tired as he did before, and she was glad. "A little bit. I came without a coat, and all," she shrugged, her face marginally paler than it was when she was inside.

The pink-haired waiter hastily grabbed her hand which had to be on the table, and he noticed how cold she was. "You're so cold, Lucy. Are you sure you're not getting hypothermia after walking in that cold? I mean, it's November after all."

Quickly squeezing his hand, she admired how warm it was. "I'm fine, Natsu. I'm not getting hypothermia."

He frowned, and he squeezed her hand back. "I don't like it when you lie to me."

"Here you go, your hot chocolate, Lucy!" Mirajane called out from a few metres away.

That caused the two to separate and Natsu to stumble up onto his feet, though not quick enough.

Lucy mumbled a quick 'thank you' and started sipping her hot chocolate without any further words.

"Natsu? Would you like something as well as we wait for Gray and Juvia to arrive?"

The male stammered a little, clearing his throat. "N-No, I'm fine... J-Just fine..."

The white-haired cashier smiled and nodded, before turning on her heel to walk back.

It was then silent in the coffee shop, no one daring to speak until the familiar scraping of a chair sounded, causing everyone to scream and wince. "Aghh!" Natsu cried, covering his ears to block out the sound.

"S-Sorry! Sorry! I just - I just... Sorry!" Lucy apoglozied, a blush on her face as she had a bashful look on her face. "Um, Mira? C-Could I have a refill? It's just that this hot chocolate is so nice."

The white-haired woman turned around once more and nodded, taking the cup of the blonde's hands. "Of course," she agreed, already on the task.

"Love Rival! Natsu! Mirajane! G-Gray is... Gray is coming this way!"

Juvia ran into the coffee shop, a slightly panicked look on her face.

The other 3 people raised a brow. "What do you mean 'Gray is coming this way'? I thought you were supposed to keep him busy for the next... few minutes," Natsu inquired, his brow raising further.

Juvia sighed. "W-Well, Gray insisted that Juvia should tell him what was going on, since Gray suspected that something was happening and that Juvia was keeping something from him," the blue-haired woman answered, naturally speaking in third-person.

The pink-haired man scowled and narrowed his eyes. "Well, whatever. It's nearly time, anyway. Where is he?"

Lucy approached the window and strained her neck with a new cup of hot chocolate in her hand as she lifted it to her lips to quickly drown it. "He's, um, about a couple of feet away right now, and approaching at high speed."

"Shit!"

For the next 20 seconds, there were then clattering and yelling, as well as slapping, punching and crashing sounds.

"All right, what's going on?! Why'd you make me dress up all... fancy...?"

Gray burst through the door, an angry look on his face.

He looked around the place, seeing speckers of lights everywhere.

"W-What the hell?"

Mirajane then popped out from under the counter, which scared the crap out of Gray.

"Gah!" he cried.

"Gray! Did you honestly forget it was your birthday?" she scolded, a somewhat angry look on her face.

The black-haired male was slightly taken aback. Was this what it was all about? The decorations and the fact that the coffee shop was closed in the first place?

"W-Well... no... not exactly... I mean..." he trailed off, trying to think up some sort of excuse. Then it dawned on him. "I-Is this why... Is this why Juvia kept my birthday off my mind for the whole day?"

Natsu then popped up from behind the counter. "Look, bro, you want us to celebrate your day or what?"

Gray scowled in the pink-haired man's direction. "Shut up."

"And yes," Mirajane answered, her angry face gone and her content expression surfacing. "That's why Juvia kept you away from Fairy Tail."

Natsu puffed his cheeks out in exasperation. "Look, can we do the chit-chat later? I wanna party, already."

Lucy grabbed his tie and pulled, her presence still unknown to the black-haired male.

Natsu choked and fell to the ground, coughing and motioning to his neck.

"Crushing windpipe! Windpipe!" he croaked out in a low voice, wanting to breathe again.

The blonde let go, and he breathed heavily to attempt to regain his breath.

"Fine," they heard from above. "Let's party and leave this... chit-chat for later."

* * *

**I was originally gonna, like, add the actual party part thing, but I decided to cut it short and put it in the next chapter, which is practically the conclusion to this chapter.**

**And remember to leave a review, guys! c:**


	6. Le Birthday de Color II

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**This chapter is the conclusion to the previous chapter...**

**So...**

**Party!**

**_**Warnings!:** AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing.****_**

* * *

_6: Le Birthday de Color II_

_They were prepared with 2 seconds to spare, and Gray didn't seem to like his party so much despite the fact that he just literally walked in 2 seconds ago. However, everybody seemed quite the opposite._

* * *

Lucy and Natsu then raised from the counter, scaring Gray even more.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" he whispered, majorly appalled. "I mean, it's not Halloween, you do know that."

Natsu snickered, before he burst out laughing fully. "Oh my god! This idea was so - so genius!"

"Natsu!" Lucy slapped him on the arm, causing him to shut up quite easily. "Stick to the damn rules!"

The pink-haired male quickly shut up and then just smirked at Gray. "So, how'd you like your party so far, jackass?"

The birthday male just scowled at his pink-haired co-worker, and turned towards Mirajane. "Mira, when did you plan this?"

"Um, a couple of weeks ago, I guess," she merrily replied, clapping her hands together. "Oh, that's right! This is no party without - "

"Beer! Beer, beer, beeeeeer! Oh, and happy birthday, birthday boyyy!"

A brunette came stumbling in, with two cans in her hands. She waved one of them in Gray's direction, who then just limply waved at her, slightly embarrassed. He was 26 now, for God's sake; a man, not a boy.

The white-haired cashier then turned around to face the brunette, walking over to her and grabbing her shoulders, before smiling at her, giving off a somewhat scary aura. "Now, now, Cana, don't get carried away, okay? You'll reach your limit of sake sooner than you think, you know."

The drunk woman stopped in her speech, a quickly mumbled something under her breath. Mirajane then pulled away from her and the scary aura was gone.

Natsu let out a small laugh at the scene, but stopped when he felt pressure on his upper arm. "Hey!" He rubbed the sore spot and glared at the person who hit him, the verdict puffing her cheeks at him. "What? It was Cana's fault. She was the one who came in and all."

"And it was your fault for laughing."

"I didn't - "

Gray interrupted. "You did, bro. Now, I really wanna get this party over with so I can go home and go to sleep."

Natsu was about to retort, but Mirajane interrupted him before he could even open his mouth. "My, my! Gray, don't be so glum! Now, let's get this party started shall we, before anybody explodes out of impatience?"

Gray scowled with reluctance. "All right, all right, jeez. Just.. calm the hell, down, okay?"

Everybody cheered, as Juvia then rushed over to the black-haired male, also giving him a big hug.

* * *

"This thing ain't that bad, right?" Natsu asked, somewhat funny faces to a young boy on the opposite side of the room. Lucy was standing next to him, helping herself to a plate of food. She then grabbed a can of Happoshu. "Oh, yeah, gimme a can of Happoshu as well, will you?"

The woman sighed, before she gave him her can and helped herself to another can from the pack.

She spun around, facing the same direction as Natsu was now, leaning against the table near the window at the front. "Well, I guess it could be worse," she agreed, picking at her food before putting some in her mouth. "To be honest, it is pretty packed."

The blonde observed the room, taking in the amount of people that had come to celebrate her friend-but-not-exactly-a-friend's birthday. "Say, how popular is Gray?"

Natsu looked in her direction, stopping in his routine of making funny faces. "Well, uh, I dunno, actually. I don't pay attention."

Lucy laughed, before she suddenly changed the subject. "Hey, Mira said you're from the United Kingdom. Is that true?"

"Sudden change of subject, but yeah, I am. Why?"

"I want to hear you say something in English with a British accent."

He was then taken aback at the idea. He was originally expecting that she was going to ask him if he lived in London before or something. Not that.

He scratched the back of head, awkwardly, before he nodded. To be frank, the last time he even spoke to anyone in proper English was when he was dating that girl back in the UK, right before he left for Japan.

"_This game is ace, innit, lad?"_ he said, in the best British accent he could muster. It turned out more Scouse, if anything.

He heard the author next to him squeal and laugh, before he turned his head towards her and watched her throw her head back. He joined in after a few minutes, saying more lines in a Scouse accent to make her laugh. She didn't even bother to ask for a translation for any of the sayings he did.

* * *

"So, Gray. How'd you like your party?" Mirajane asked, coming over to the black-haired male who was downing a beer bottle that Cana had offered him as a birthday present.

"Hm?" He teared the bottle away from his lips and held it in hand, his eyes boring straight into the white-haired woman's bright blue eyes. "Well, not half-bad. Pretty impressive. I mean, you even got Wakaba and Macao here. You even made him bring Romeo - it's seriously impressive, Mira! I gotta thank you! Who else do I need to thank for this pretty good party?"

Mirajane laughed lightly. "Well, Lucy helped with the party theme whilst Natsu helped with the guest list. Amazingly, he knew a lot of people around Japan. Even more than me and Lucy!"

Gray raised a brow. "Huh. That bastard knows more people, eh? Well, I bet I can name everybody - "

"Lucy can name everybody here, Gray. Try her," Mirajane interrupted, challenging him with the blonde.

They looked over at her direction over the heads of other guests, watching her throw her head back numerous times as Natsu caught her once or twice when she nearly fell. They couldn't see clearly as they were standing on the other side of the room and other people were intersecting, but they could see very clearly what was going on.

The birthday boy brought the beer bottle back to his lips once more, downing the rest of the liquid. "I'd rather not interrupt, as she looks pretty occupied. It'll be pretty rude to both of them." He walked away from older woman. "I'm gonna ask Cana for another one of these."

He approached the drunken brunette, quickly asking her for another bottle of beer, before he walked off as he nearly bumped into a girl with short white hair. "Oh, crap. Sorry, Lisanna, I didn't mean to bump into you."

The woman laughed at him and brushed it off. "It's fine, Gray! Besides, it's your birthday today, so you can pretty much get away with anything right now!"

He scratched the back of his head, chuckling a little. "I-I guess."

Lisanna then noticed the bottle in his hand, causing her to snatch it from him. "Gray! How many bottles have you had?! It's your birthday! You should be socializing, not drinking and sitting around!"

He sighed, leaning his head back. "C'mon, Lis. You know me. You know I don't like celebrating birthdays. Especially like this - it's the worst. Everybody just crowds you and screams in your ear and other crap. It's annoying and noisy. Like Natsu. That's why I don't like him. He crowds me and screams shit in my ear, as well be annoying and noisy half the time."

Sighing, she planted a hand on her hip. "Yes, I agree, but he's not like that right now, is he? No. He's on the other side of the room talking to one of the most famous authors in Japan. Heck, he could even be chatting her up, but we both know that's not possible, right?"

Gray narrowed his eyes, trying to get a better view from his angle. "Well, I'm gonna be honest here and bend the rule of chatting up customers in the coffee shop for his sake, but I think he actually is. I mean, look at him." He pointed at the scene, as if no one else was there except those four. "He's making her laugh and everything. Damn, does this guy have flippin' guts."

Lisanna looked over to where he was pointing and nodded. She then nudged him. "If he has guts, then you should, right? You should talk to that Juvia girl over there. Seems like Lucy knows her and got Natsu to bring her here. So, go!"

Gray tightened his lips, slightly. "Lisanna, I've already been on 2 dates with Juvia. Would this really count as the third?"

"Well, of course! You're together with her, right? Then it's a date - simple!"

He groaned at her. "I'm just saying, but you and Mira are way too much alike."

"Go."

"Dammit, you just ignored me, didn't you?"

"Gray, I said go."

"Ugh, I am, I am, so stop pestering me so much!"

He slowly made his way to the girl he had already been on 2 dates with, purposely bumping into people he knew so he could delay their encounter with each other.

* * *

Natsu cleared his throat, before he downed his beverage. "Oh, hey look, Lucy. It's Gray chatting up a girl."

The blonde looked in the direction Natsu was looking in, seeing Gray talking to Juvia. "Wow. I never knew he was capable of that."

"Lucy, you've only known him for like, 2 days."

"You've known for most of your life, yet it seems like you don't known much more than me, frankly."

That made him scowl at her. "Shut up."

He watched her turn around and their eyes locked. Sparks flew in between them, before Lucy spoke something unexpected.

"I have a date on Sunday."

He spluttered, all of a sudden at loss for words. "S-Sorry, what?"

"Date. I have a date. On Sunday," she repeated for him, tilting her head ever so slightly. "Why, is it someone's birthday that day?"

He shook his head, hastily downing a cup of water that the 24-year-old had poured for him. "No, nom it's nobody's birthday on Sunday. It's just that, well, it's pretty unexpected, to be honest. Uh, where's the date then?"

"Tokyo Skytree! I'm so excited! I've been to the area where the Skytree is, but never exactly been to the Skytree before."

"I-I could take you."

"Eh?" She snapped her head towards him. "N-No. I couldn't let you. I've already let you take me to Akihabara, do I can't let you take me to the Skytree, as well."

He scoffed, turning his head away for a moment. "Don't be stupid. Tomorrow, I'll take you to the Skytree after you're finished in Akihabara, okay?"

Lucy pouted. What choice did she have? She nodded. "Okay."

He then grinned at her, which caused her to crack a smile at him. "All right. It's a date."

Natsu was about to walk away, but Lucy caught his arm. "Huh?"

Her face then became flustered. Crap. This seriously wasn't supposed to happen. Now she didn't know what to say. Music was playing. Couples were dancing. The best idea came to her head. "Wanna dance for a bit?"

Blinking at her, he stared into her brown eyes. "Um," he half-answered, not exactly satisfied with it either. He pondered over the idea. He could learn more about her, but he doesn't want to learn too much in case they don't... go far. "Sure. I don't see why not. It's just for today, right? For the purpose of the party, right?"

Tilting her head, she nodded. "Of course. Just for the sake of Gray's birthday."

"Happy Birthday to you,  
Happy Birthday to you,  
Happy Birthday to dear Gray,  
Happy Birthday to you!"

Grag groaned, feeling like a child once more. He had only heard the song being sung once today, yet he loathed it nonetheless. "Thank you, thank you..." he trailed off, not exactly paying attention as he got gift after gift being shoved under his nose. After all, he never loved his birthday that much.

However, this year, he loved it much more than he would've originally thought.

"Today was so good."

"You said that yesterday."

"Did I?"

"Yeah. I don't wanna experience that Akihabara shopping experience ever again."

Lucy's laugh resounded within the air, her head slightly leaning back.

Natsu furrowed his brows at her, a small scowling growing on his features. Then he remembered something that was supposed to happen today. "Oh, that's right, weren't you suppossed to go to Yokohama today?"

The blonde turned around, cocking her head to the side as she started to walk in a backwards fashion. "Oh, we were, but I cancelled my ticket and refunded it at the last minute because I wanted to enjoy Gray's party with everybody else. They said that they'd rebook for next week. Hopefully nothing's happening next week so I don't have to cancel and refund and rebook later?"

The pink-haired man stopped in his tracks which caused the author to stop as well. He pondered over it, trying to think up any event happening the following week that would prevent Lucy from her trip. Slowly, he proceeded to shake his head. "I don't... I don't think so. I'm not sure, per se, but there should be nothing going on. Why, do you want me to tag along?"

"What? No. I'm thinking of bringing Levy after her Osaka trip with Gajeel. She's coming back on Monday."

Natsu stared at her for a minute or two. "So she's coming back after your date at the Tokyo Skytree?"

"Yes. A day after, anyway," Lucy agreed, turning on her heel as she started walking in the right fashion. "Why, do you want to tag along?"

Scoffing, the waiter shook his head. "Ha, no way. I'd rather go back to the UK than go to Yokohama."

The woman pouted. "But Natsu. The UK is miles away whilst Yokohama is only a couple of hours away."

"Oi, that's comparing time to distance, not distance to distance or time to time!" he called after her, attempting to keep up with her pace. "Hey! Lucy! It's really dark, you know! C-Could you slow down? I'm trying to follow you home, here!"

* * *

**Shorter than usual, but we're rounding it to 3k, for the sake of it. And the fact that it's the conclusion to Gray's birthday party. Anyhoo, I typed the majority of this on my phone, so if you spot any errors, please notify me so I can fix them, thank you!**

**Anyway... this chapter is kinda rushed, and I attempted (not succeeded) to put some Gruvia in here. So... yeah, I have nothing else to say, really xD**

**Remeber to review for me!**


	7. Le Skytree Testing

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**Hi guys... um... so, this chapter hopefully makes up for the shortness of the last one... so, yeah. c:**

**Enjoy and... well, the usual.**

****_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing._****

* * *

_7: Le Skytree Testing_

_Yesterday, he promised her than he would take her to the Tokyo Skytree and show her around. And that's what he did, despite the fact that he would take as long as he needed to wait for her to absorb its magnificent beauty._

* * *

"Great work, everybody. We'll be working hard from now til Christmas, okay? We should make _Fenrir_ our best piece of work," Lucy declared, before laughing lightly at the suggestion and bidding goodbye to her editors.

Quickly, she proceeded to the elevator and took out her phone. "It's 3 o'clock now... which means - "

"Oh, Lucy! What a coincidence to see you here!"

A woman with light brown hair and brown eyes to match grinned at her. She also had red markings on her cheeks.

"Millianna," Lucy acknowledged, smiling as she stepped in. "What a surprise. I thought you were working late today."

The woman with markings shook her head. "No, no. It's just that Beth wanted to do my work for me for some reason. I think she was in a happy mood?"

The blonde let out a small 'Eh, is that so?', before silence sat upon their conversation afterwards.

She still had her phone in her hand. "Oh, crap!" she cried, unlocking her phone and dialling a number she had memorized over the past few days. Lucy pressed her phone against her ear, the familiar ring vibrating her ear drums.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Natsu! Hey, uh, I'm just getting out of work. When's your next break?"

"Huh? What, already?"

"Of course. It's 3 o'clock."

She heard a small scowl from his end of the line.

"All right, all right. Just give me a couple of minutes. I'm gonna be on break in about 5 minutes."

Smiling to herself, the blonde nodded. "Okay. Just hurry up - I don't want to miss anything!"

She heard him snort. "Don't be stupid. I booked the time for a little after four."

Lucy sighed in relief after that. "Good."

The elevator bell then dinged at the designated floor. The doors hissed open and the two occupants both stepped out.

"Crap, gotta go. Mira caught me!"

The blonde blinked, only a few footsteps away from the exit. The line went dead before she knew it. "Natsu? Natsu?"

Sighing, she locked her phone once more and placed it back in her pocket.

"I'll see you tomorrow, okay, Lucy?"

Millianna brought her back to reality and she quickly smiled. "Um, I don't think I'll be able to be here that long to see you, because I have a date tomorrow."

Millianna gave out a sound of surprise. "Eh?! A date?! The famous Lucy Heartfilia has a _date_?!"

The 24-year-old hastily plugged her fingers in her ears. "Millianna, why do you sound so surprised? And please don't shout that out loud so... loudly."

"Because, I've never seen you on a date before. Wait. Have you told Kagura?"

Tilting her head ever so slightly, she shook her head. "No. In fact, I haven't seen Kagura lately."

"I see..."

* * *

"Hey, hi, hi... hi."

Lucy furrowed her brows with amusement and confusion as she opened the car down and sat in the passenger seat, closing the door afterwards.

"Hey. Ready to go?" she asked, clicking in her seatbelt.

Natsu shifted the gear into Drive. "Yeah. You?"

She turned her head towards him and gave him a small smile. "Of course. That's why I asked you."

Chuckling softly, he drove out back onto the main road, feeling the blasts of the November air hit his face. He didn't bother to close the window, as he, after all, liked the cold.

He briefly glanced over to Lucy to find her staring outside of the window, as if taking in the scenery.

A small smile was on her lips.

He then turned his head back to face the road, turning a sharp left, causing the woman to snap out of her trance and sway in his direction.

"Don't worry - we're nearly - oh, shit."

He was about to reassure her, but then he noticed the traffic leading up to the Skytree. It was Saturday, as well.

Lucy frowned. "We're stuck in traffic." Her frown deepened ever so slightly as she thought about the delays. "I want to get there on time, for one."

Natsu sighed, tempted to just stick his head out of the window and scream at the drivers in front of him, but he already knew that was rude and that he already had drivers behind doing that as well as the fact that he didn't want to look... rude.

"Oh, look, people are starting to move," Lucy then spoke. He spun his head towards her in an instant and looked back at the road in front of him. He saw cars moving away from his line of vision, but they soon entered his vision again as he drove forward, slowly.

"Damn," he whispered. "This might take a while, Lucy."

The blonde took a quick glance at her wristwatch and chuckled at him, softly. "It's okay. Even if we miss our reservation, I'll be able to see the Tokyo Skytree tomorrow, right?"

She watched him scowl slightly. "Look, Luce, you've never seen the Tokyo Skytree, so I'm taking you to see it, no matter what."

"Why do you want to be the one to take me to see the Skytree, anyway?!" Lucy then asked, sighing with exasperation as she threw her arms up.

His grip on the wheel tightened, and he stiffly moved forward in the queue of cars. "I..." he trailed off, not bothering to finish until he turned the next corner, the Skytree in sight.

"If you don't want to answer, it's fine - you can tell me another day, y'know," she waved off, deciding to discard the situation.

She watched him purse his lips slightly, the grip on the steering wheel steadily loosening. His knuckles returned to their original color.

The straight line that were his lips slowly curved up into a smile. "Thanks. I'll tell you when I'm giving you a tour."

He pulled into the parking lot and quickly spotted a space, before he then reversed into it. "All right, let's go." He proceeded to step out of the car, and went over to the opposite side to help Lucy out. He locked the car and followed the blonde toward the entrance.

Once they were both inside in the Tokyo Skytree, Natsu lead her to the 4th floor.

"Listen, Luce..." he slowly started as the stood on the moving escalator. "Um, I only want to be the first one to show you the Skytree because... because... well, because..." he trailed off, realizing tons of excuses swam through his head yet none of them stuck.

"Because?" she prompted, raising a brow as her lips stayed slightly parted. "C'mon, you can take your time. You could even tell me next year, if you wish."

He frowned and hastily grabbed her wrist, pulling her in the opposite direction she was currently going in.

"This way," he stated. "Hi, uh, I reserved tickets for two at 4:30?"

He stuffed his hand into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet, running through it to pull out a TOBU card. He also then simultaneously pulled out his phone and unlocked it, tapping his screen various times.

"Credit card and confirmation email, right? Right here," he said, pointing at the objects he had placed on the table.

The woman at the desk nodded. "Thank you. Please wait."

Natsu nodded back and took back his possessions before he grabbed Lucy's wrist again.

"We have to wait?" she asked, starting to pout a little.

He shrugged. "I guess. I mean, you don't have to wait that long anyway... out of all my experiences, anyway."

She tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged once more. "I come here with Gray and various other people time and time again."

"Meanie."

"What?"

"I mean, you never asked me to come here with you."

"Well, of course! I never met you before, stupid."

"Yeah, but... but... but - "

"Mr. Natsu Dragneel? You can enter the Skytree, now."

Natsu grinned at the blonde and grabbed her wrist once more.

"Let's go," he said, dragging her through.

* * *

The two sat down, sighing as they looked out onto the view.

"The Skytree really is an amazing tower," Lucy commented, leaning her face on her hand.

Chuckling a little, Natsu watched the drinks they had ordered place in front of them on the table.

"It's weird. I feel weird."

"Why?"

"'Cause, I'm usually the one serving stuff and here I am watching others serve," he answered. He took a sip of his cup. "Oh, crap, wait, I think this one's genmaicha. What have you got?"

The blonde looked up. She had already sipped more than she meant. "Um, I'm not sure. I think it's kocha."

He scruched up his nose. "I don't like genmaicha. Pretty sure I ordered kocha."

She frowned, nearly mirroring his features. "Natsu, I don't like genmaicha, either. And I love kocha. Go and order another type of tea, then."

He sighed. "But - "

"Go."

"Don't act like you know this place better than me, Lucy."

Quickly, she stuck her tongue out at him like a little child, but he only did the same back.

The woman, whilst waiting for her friend to come back, drank some more of her tea.

"I wonder why Natsu wants to be the one to take me here first. I mean, it's just a broadcasting tower, though, isn't?" she asked no one in particular.

"Yes, and no," she then heard from behind her.

She craned her neck and saw Natsu holding a can in his grip.

"Where's your tea?" she asked, nodding towards the object in his hand.

"They ran out of tea so I had to go to a nearby vending machine and get this... uh... thing."

She stood up from her chair and took the beverage from his hand. "This 'thing', as you call it, is a drink called Sangaria Ramune."

"Sorry, what now?" Natsu leaned in and cockede his head to the side.

"Sangaris Ramune."

His face dropped. "Ugh, do I really have to remember that? I mean, it's so... hard."

"Say it."

"San..."

"Let's try English."

"_Sangaria Ramune_."

"Right. Now say it Japanese."

"Sangar... see, I can't do it in Japanese!"

Sighing, she pinched the bridge of her nose with her spare hand as she shoved the bottle back into his. "Just drink it."

"Fine," he replied, opening the bottle and lifting it to his lips before throwing his head back to down it.

She grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder, smiling a little as she observed the male.

He breathed out as he stood up straight. "All right, let's go! Next stop: The Skytree Shop!" Natsu announced, a large grin on his face.

Lucy reached out, attempting to pull him back.

He didn't exacatly pay.

"Natsu! You still need to pay, you know!"

She caught him stop in his tracks.

"I-I mean..." He turned around, a bashful look on his face. "I-I didn't forget, okay? I was just looking for a bin to put this in." He then held up the empty beverage.

Smiling, she took it from him. "Listen," she softly started, "you pay, and I'll look for a bin and wait for you outside, mm'kay?"

He sighed and nodded, loosening his grip on the bottle. Slowly, he approached the counter and paid for the 'lunch' that he and Lucy had, even though it only consisted of tea.

"And this... is the Tokyo Space-Time Navigation," Natsu announced, motioning to the board in front of them.

Lucy leant down slightly, taking in the sights.

"Wow - so beautiful," she whispered. Slowly, she dragged her fingertips over the surface, gasping as she noticed that specific part of the picture turning a darker color. "I-It..."

"Yeah, pretty cool, ain't it?" Natsu grinned, also pressuring one of his fingers on the screen. "It's probably one of the best things in this tower," he commented, starting to move his finger around the area. "Hehe. I love this thing... whatever it is."

Lucy chuckled as well. "I think you call it an interactive screen... thing."

Natsu looked at her, still messing around. "So you don't know either?"

"Hey, you've been here more times than me. I thought you would've known what this was, at least," the blonde shot back, not looking at him to make eye contact.

His lips twitched, curving upwards into a small smirk. "Yeah? You've lived here your whole life."

"Missed 3 years - was in China."

He didn't expect that comeback. He wasn't even expecting a comeback at all. He expected more of a 'Yeah, well...' instead of what she actually said

Blinking, he removed his finger from the surface. "S-Sorry, what now? China? I thought you were, like, full Japanese."

She mirrored his actions, tilting her head up to look at him at an angle. "I am. My parents and I moved to China for 3 years. Then my mother died in China. My father and I then moved back to Japan, where I graduated from University of Kyotowith my Literature Degree. And... well, I publish my first book and it shoots from there. I never spoke in China. All I did was shop, write and watch some television."

He held up a hand, interrupting her speech. "So, you're saying that you didn't communicate whatsoever?"

"No, not really."

"What about with your parents?"

"I comminicated with Mama, but not so much with my father."

He nodded. "I see..."

* * *

The two overlooked the view of Tokyo, silence settling in between them.

"Today was nice," Lucy whispered, a smile on her lips.

She truthfully enjoyed today. She enjoyed coming to the Tokyo Skytree for the very first time, and right before her date.

"Lucy..." Natsu called, trailing off a little. "I agree that today was pretty good, but I still gotta tell you why I - "

"No," she interrupted, holding up a hand. "You'll ruin this moment if you finish that sentence."

She heard him sigh.

He slumped his shoulders and mumbled a 'fine,' before he then pulled out his phone.

He started scrolling through his contacts, before he clicked on one and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Yo, Gray. How's the cafe? Everything going well?"

"_Yeah, it's amazing without you here._"

"Oh, really?"

"_Yeah, seriously. People are flocking in and all. Oh, by the way, how are you doing? How's the girl you're on a date with?_"

"Pretty good." His voice lowered into a whisper as he turned away from the woman. "Well, she lived in China for three years until her mother died. She then moved back to Japan. It's crazy!" he hissed, nearly throwing his arms about to emphasize the point.

"_What? That's just.. what? What the hell?! Ask her more about it!_"

"Yeah, we kind of pushed that subject off the table."

"_Then push it back on the table._"

"No, dammit. I don't wanna ruin this."

"_What do you mean, 'this'? A date? Right, well, if you think it's a date, it's a date, end of story! No counters in this situation, Natsu._"

"Shut up, I'm hanging up now."

"_Oi, hey, oi! Don't just fucking hang up on me!_"

"Yeah, whatever. Bye."

He turned back around with his phone away from his ear.

Lucy was smiling at him, hands clasped behind her back.

"Um..."

"What?"

"Nothing!" he quickly dismissed, slightly surprised that she didn't question his phone call.

She nodded, her brown orbs staring into his charcoal ones. "All right. Should we get going? I'm starting to get a little tired after today."

Natsu blinked, before clearing his throat. "Uh, sure. But you wanna have dinner here? I mean, it's already 6."

"They have a restaurant here as well as a cafe? It's really impressive," Lucy gasped.

He smiled at her. "Yeah, it is."

Reaching out to then grab her wrist, he pulled her towards him.

"C'mon, let's go."

He dragged her 5 floors below, the floor where they had lunch at.

There was a restaurant northwest of the cafe, which meant it wasn't as far.

"Natsu! Slow down!" the blonde author cried, before she started to pull him to a halt. "Listen, Natsu..."

He turned his head around, letting go of her. "What's wrong?" he inquired, starting to frown a little.

"I-It's nothing, but can we just stay here for a little bit longer? I don't want to miss the stars that are coming tonight," Lucy quickly said.

Warmly, he smiled at her. "'Course we can. But they're not coming out until, like midnight, and hungry, so let's eat."

Starting to laugh a little, she nodded. "Yeah, all right, all right!"

* * *

"Look, there's Libra."

Lucy pointed at the line of stars in the sky, as Natsu furrowed his brows in confusion, trying to spot it amongst the large array of stars. "I can't see it. Where is it?"

She sighed, pointing once more. "Over there, see."

The pink-haired man started to scowl a little. "What the hell, I still can't see it. Point to it, again, please?"

She pointed out of the window, drawing in the air the shape of the star of Libra. "Look harder, Natsu."

"Ugh, I give up."

"We've been standing here for two minutes. Come on."

He looked at her, and pouted. "You're just smart," he said.

She scoffed a little. "No. I'm just experienced in astronomy."

"But you're an author," he countered with confusion.

"An author can be experienced in something other than literature, you know."

"Yeah, but..."

She elbowed him in the ribs, where he then yelped.

"Ow... that's so mean.." he whimpered, rubbing the sore spot. "I mean, who does that? I've only known you for 3 days and you're here abusing me."

"Technically, you've known me for about a year now," the 24-year-old woman corrected, a smile on her features as her cheeks started to somewhat hurt.

"No, I've been serving you for about a year - oh, I can see the thingie now!"

She turned to look at him, eyebrow raised. "Define 'thingie'."

"Um, the star."

Lucy gave him a more questioning look.

"Dammit. I can see Libra," he muttered, suddenly wanting to sound smart. "I swear I'm smart, Lucy!"

The said woman chuckled softly. "Don't worry, I believe you."

* * *

Natsu pulled the gear into Park, where he then turned the engine off.

"How'd you like today?" he inquired, glancing in her direction.

"Hm?" She glanced back at him and locked eyes. "It was good."

"'Good'? You're an author - I thought your English would be better."

"Well, I can't think of anything on the spot, right now, so shush," she countered, beginning to get out of the car. She closed the door and saw the pink-haired waiter breathe in the November air.

He locked the car and started walking around, before turning the corner that lead them to the pavement which also lead them to the Fairy Tail cafe.

"Oh, look, they're back!" Gray yelled, gathering everyone's attention.

"Welcome back," Cana greeted, a lopsided grin on her face. "How was your date?"

"It wasn't a date," Lucy said before Natsu could open his mouth to speak.

Gray, Cana and the familiar white-haired cashier blinked, who had recently joined them. "It wasn't?" Gray questioned. "You said it was when you called me."

"No, I didn't," Natsu scowled. "You were the one who said it was."

"But you didn't agree nor deny it."

"You just shut up right now otherwise I will punch you!"

"Oh, I see! You want to fight? _You want to go back to the old days?_!"

"_Well, I sure do now!_"

"_All right, this... is for everything stupid... you have ever said.. in my damn presense!_"

"_Yeah? Right! Then this.. is for everything stupid... you have ever did!_"

Lucy laughed nervously, cautiously making her way to Cana and Mirajane. "A-Are these two always like this?"

Mirajane's blue eyes shined with amusement. "Well, I can't say always. When it's busy and they bump into each other when waiting tables, they tend to just scowl at each other and carry on. However, when it's empty or only just a few people are here and they bump into each other, they have this tradition of putting down their trays and punch each other. It's amusing in so many ways."

"That's right. Sometimes even somebody like Elfman would join in," Cana added, her eyes also shining with amusement. "But after that it just gets annoying. With just the two of them, it's tolerable, but with more of these idiots, it's just annoying and noisy."

The three girls watched the two 25-year-old males fight, acting way younger than their actual age.

"Well, I gotta go. I have a date tomorrow at 3," Lucy then said, stretching her arms above her head.

Everybody stopped to stare at the blonde author.

"W-What?" she croaked out, her arms falling back to her side.

"You have a date?!" they all yelled.

Natsu's surprised and shocked expression wasn't as good as the others, but it was good enough to blend in.

She laughed and nodded. "Yeah," she simply responded.

They all then started yelling questions, though Natsu slowly crept away from the small crowd, making sure no one spotted him.

"Um, can I answer all your questions tomorrow after my date? I'm really tired after today with Natsu, so I would really love some sleep," Lucy quickly said the first excuse she could think of that worked.

Mirajane stopped her questions, which led to everyone else quietening down as well. She glared at Natsu, her blue eyes shining with playful anger instead of amusement. "Natsu."

"Yes?"

"You tired her out today. It's your fault she doesn't get to answer any questions from us."

"Y-Yeah, well, um, she was the one who agreed to come with me!"

"Dude, I don't think it's a good idea to argue with Mira. You know what happened last time. You experienced it for God's sake," Gray muttered, clearing his throat as he stuffed his hands into his pockets.

Cana then perked up. "What happened to Natsu?"

"Got beat up. It's was so hilarious," the black-haired man answered, starting to chortle a little. "Man, as much as I wish for it to happen again, it probably never will. Until today."

Mirajane smiled, anger starting to rise from her. "Now, now, we can always make it happen again, Natsu. Do you want even more bandages than last time?"

"N-No, ma'am!"

"Good. Now shush."

Lucy laughed marginally once more, before she walked towards the door, hand gripping the strap of her bag. "Well, then... I'll be off. I have to cancel tomorrow's work day in time for the date."

Everybody then bid her goodbye, as Natsu watched her out, though everybody else went back to the original places they were in before.

* * *

**Ugh.**

**The next chapter is the date...**

**So, who is Lucy's date for tomorrow?**

**Only I know... mwahaha! **

**Yeah.**

**Review for me... maybe? c:**


	8. Le Skytree Date

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**Holy crap, I am so excited for this chapter! I mean, it's so exciting to finally get to the first milestone!  
**

**The first milestone, in this case, is the first date.**

**Anyhoo... enjoy, etc. etc.  
**

**And may I say, Hibiki, in this story, is in no way a womanizer or a flirt or anything like that.**

******_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing._******

* * *

_8: Le Skytree Date  
_

_After yesterday, she was pumped to go to the date that was set for today. She had never met her date, but she didn't mind. That was the whole point for online dating, was it not?_

* * *

"Today's the day," Lucy whispered as she punched in the numbers for Ultear's phone. "Today's the day. Today's the day. Today's the day."

"Hi, Ultear?"

"_Hey, Lucy, what's up?_"

"I was just wondering if I could take the day off today. I'm not sure if word got around to you guys, but I have a date today at 3."

"_Oh, yeah. Millianna from Mermaid told us._"

"Thank God. So I don't have to tell you the whole story."

"_No, you don't. Anyway, it's fine that you have to take the day off. How about we set a day off every Sunday, for the sake of it?_"

"Sure, I don't mind."

She glanced at the calendar hanging on the wall, calculating the days in her mind.

"_Great. Well, then, good luck on your date. And use protection._"

The blonde blushed madly, her free hand flying to her cheek in attempt to slap herself.

"Ultear!"

She heard laughing from the other end, and she then decided to hang up.

Suddenly, she heard knocking on her door.

"Who would be knocking on my door at this time?"

It was 6:45, and Lucy had woken up 30 minutes ago.

Making her way to the door, she unchained the door and pulled it open.

"Mira?"

"Hi, Lucy!" the white-haired woman waved, smiling widely. "When's your date again?"

The blonde stammered a little, and followed with clearing her throat. "Um, 4. No, 3. Agh, I'm so nervous!"

Mirajane shook her head. "It's okay to be nervous, Lucy. Is this your first date?"

She shuffled a little in her spot. "Well, I'm usually busy all the time with getting to my editors and publishing my books and all, so... long story short, yes."

The cashier nodded in understanding, before she ushered the blonde back into her apartment. "I'll help you get ready."

"Eh? I mean, I don't really need help - "

"You do, dear. C'mon. Back up."

* * *

"Mira! I don't like this dress. Could we pick another one? And can we be a little more casual? It's not a restaurant - it's just the Tokyo Skytree!" Lucy cried, frowning as she spun around, her neck craning as she attempted to face the mirror at all times.

She gripped the edges of her dress, pulling it upwards. "Mira!" she whined once more.

The white-haired woman furrowed her brows, her blue eyes inspecting the dress on the blonde's torso. "Hm, twirl around once more for me, Lucy."

The author did was she was told and spun around, before she stopped in front of Mira. "Mira, you know I don't like frilly dresses. It's all... frilly and fancy."

"Ah!" the cashier then exclaimed, frightening Lucy. "What if you're underdressed?"

"Then he'll just have to cope with it. He never specified it either."

Mirajane frowned once more. "Lucy..." she said, head leaning on her hand. "You can never be overdressed, but you can always be underdressed for an occasion."

"How'd you figure?" the 24-year-old asked, strutting back into the bathroom with fistfuls of her blue, fancy dress in her hands.

She closed the door and locked it, making sure that all of her dress was in before she ripped anything that Mirajane owned.

"Hm, well, if you're underdressed at a, let's say, posh restaurant, you might give off the wrong first impression," she suggested as she waited for the other woman to come out of the restroom to see her own choice of clothing.

"Well, what if we just end up getting some food from outside of the Skytree?"

"That's not possible. It's either casual cafe or posh restaurant once you're in, Lucy," Mirajane countered, pointing out rules and facts that the blonde didn't know.

* * *

"Anyway, do you know who he is?" Mirajane asked, a conniving smile on her lips.

"Why? Would you know him?"

"I'm not sure. I pretty much know everybody, so maybe."

"Well, no, not exactly. I met him on a dating site - " Lucy was interrupted by Mirajane's squeals.

"Oh my! Tell me more! Tell me more! How did you end up setting this up?"

The former thought back to the day she and her mysterious date were coincidentally both online, and they set a date. "I-I guess it was just a coincidence that we happened to be online at the same time, so we ended up setting up a date for today at 3. By the way, he was the one who sent the message to me," she quickly added before Mirajane could pour her part in her little speech.

The cashier squealed once more, nearly jumping in her seat as Lucy stood up to get her some more tea.

"When you come back, make sure to tell us how it went! Or just me if you don't feel like opening up to so many people," she giggled, that conniving smile back on her face again.

The flustered look that Lucy had when Ultear teased her was on her face, as she cried out loud to yell at Mirajane to stop her teasing - she had already had enough from one of her editors.

* * *

A ginger-haired man stood in font of the entrance to the Tokyo Skytree, tapping his feet as he started humming to his favorite song. He was dressed nicely, in a suit, as if it was somebody's wedding, or maybe a couple's anniversary.

A familiar ringtone then rang in his ears, and he quickly pulled out his phone and looked at the caller ID.

"Eve, again? That boy never stops worrying." He shook his head in disbelief, before he decided to ignore the call and put his phone back into his pocket.

Minutes later, he then lifted his wrist and checked his watch.

_14:55_, it read. He frowned and he was nearly convinced that his date wouldn't be showing up.

"Look, I'll call you once it's finished, okay? Okay. Then you can pick me up. Just carry on with your shift. I'll be fine," he heard from afar.

He looked up and saw what seemed like the most beautiful blonde woman on the planet. She was wearing a short, but simple blue dress with blue flats. She was speaking to someone on the phone whilst a small, red handbag hung from her shoulder.

"I have to go, now. Just... I'm going to hang up. No, I'm seriously going to - He hung up on me!" she hissed to herself, before she huffed in exasperation and placed her phone back in her little handbang. "Ugh, I'm not used to this stupid, little piece of - "

"Hi," he quickly interrupted, an awkard smile on his face. "Are you, um, Lucy Heartfilia?"

The woman stopped, and looked up, a quick smile plastered over her angry expression. "Yes, that's me. And you must be...?"

"Ah, Hibiki. Hibiki Lates."

The blonde started laughing as well, and nodded her head whilst she brushed a loose strand behind her ear. "Hibiki, right? Well, um, should we...?"

"Go in?" he finished for her, eyebrow raised. "Of course. This way."

Friendly, she smiled at him, letting the man lead the way.

"So, uh, what's your job?" he asked as they made it up to the fourth floor.

Giving him a quick glance, Lucy's lip quickly broke into a smile. "I'm an author. By the way, are you from another country other than Japan? You look and sound foreign."

He started to sweat, knowing that she had found him out. "Um, yes. I come from Australia."

"Australia, eh? Wow."

"Do you have any European friends, Lucy? Or maybe even Australian?"

The first person that popped into her head when he asked the first question was Natsu. Of course, he was British. Then Gray popped up. He was American, unlike Natsu. "Well," she started, unsure how to compose her answer together, "I have a British friend and an American one. They're both fluent in Japanese as well as English."

He nodded in understanding. "I see. Are you, by any chance, close to them?"

Her eyes widening, she started to blush a little. She knew she wasn't that close to Gray, but they still spoke now and then. But then there was Natsu. She took him around Akihabara and bought them both takoyaki, and he took her around the tower that she and her date were currently in, in return. "Yes," she spoke before she could stop herself. "I-I mean, like, I'm close friends with one of them, but we're not dating! I swear! Otherwise I would've messaged you to ask if we could cancel!" she exclaimed, trying to get some reason across to him.

He raised a brow and had a somewhat amused look on his face. "Wow, I honestly thought you would lie and say no."

She shuffled a little as they made their way to the ticket counter, Hibiki's actions mirroring Natsu's the day before. His words were even mirroring the waiter's.

"Hello. I reserved two tickets for 3:15."

"You need the comfirmation email plus the credit card I used to pay, right? Here."

"_Hi, uh, I reserved tickets for two at 4:30?_"

"_Credit card and confirmation email, right? Right here._"

She shook her head from side to side, hoping to get the flashback out. "Ugh, heat waves really do mess up your head," she muttered under her breath, watching her date come back to her.

"The lady said we had to wait a bit," he announced, pointing over his shoulder to the woman she saw yesterday.

Lucy nodded, now understanding the procedure from yesterday's tour.

As the two waited, the silence between them started to get a little awkward. "Say..." the ginger-haired man started, causing the 24-year-old to blink and turn toward him. "Have you ever been here?"

She hesitated slightly, unsure whether to give the truthful answer or the acceptable one. "Yes," she said, truthfully. "I have. Once. I've never been here after that one time."

It was the nearest she could get to the truth without blurting out the fact that she came here yesterday.

"I see. I've been here a couple of times with some of my friends. Of course, they're Australian as well, but they're also fluent in Japanese."

Lucy then realized that that was like Natsu's experience. He had been here a couple of times (maybe even many times) with his friends, and even though the majority of them were from Europe and the rest of the world, they all spoke fluent Japanese.

Lucy smiled, now knowing that she was on a date with someone that one of her friends could relate to. "You know, you're really like one of my friends. He's been here quite a few times as well."

He smiled back at her, and then grabbed her wrist all of a sudden. "This way. We'll have lunch."

Hibiki started going in a direction which the woman was familiar with. They were heading towards the cafe, and she secretly hoped that they would get the same table as she and Natsu did last time.

* * *

"I'll take a kocha," Lucy instantly said once she picked up the menu. The waiter looked at her suspiciously, but wrote down the order yesterday. "And I'll take some anpan."

The waiter nodded mutely and wrote down the second order, before he took the menu off of her. He then looked towards Hibiki, who was still browsing through the menu. "How about you, sir?" he asked, sounding a little reluctant to ask.

Hibiki looked up at him but his eyes then went back to the menu. "I'll have a Japanese iced coffee and some potato croquettes."

The ginger-haired man then closed the menu and gave it to the waiter, who tucked it under his arm. He wrote down the two things that his customer wanted and then walked off.

Contently, Lucy sighed as she leant her cheek on one hand as her other hand was started to fumble with the belt that was wrapped around her waist. She knew Mirajane tightened the belt too much, but she had to admit, it did go nice with the dress they had both agreed on.

"Is something wrong?" Hibiki asked, slowly leaning in with a slightly concerned look on his face.

"Hm?" She looked up, her eyes full with surprise. "N-No. Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine - I promise." Awkwardly, she smiled at him. "Everything's fine!" she then repeated in a higher-pitched tone.

The ginger-haired male slowly narrowed his eyes in suspicion, but decided to brush the matter off. "Anyway, Lucy... what are your hobbies?"

Brightly, she responsed to his question. "Well, I guess I really like reading and going to my favorite coffee shop just around the corner from my apartment. I write drafts of my novels at that coffee shop - there's so much inspiration there! I also like doing some yoga here and then, but that's only usually when I don't have any books to edit in some city in Japan." She laughed a little, before smiling at him.

He raised one of his brows. "You like writing as well? I do as well. Are you one of the best-selling authors?"

"Yes. I'm not sure if you've seen my name anywhere on the bookshelves, but I'm L.L Ashley," Lucy confessed, starting to blush a little. She wasn't used to telling other people about her alter ego, but she thought she'd get used to it anyway for future events.

She watched Hibiki nearly fall out of his chair. "S-Sorry, what? You're the one... who's responsible for the amazing Mythic trilogy?" Nodding, she smiled beamingly at him. "Wow. You must be... you must be famous - I don't know how I didn't recognize your name on the list."

She laughed a little, starting to let her casual side through. "Well, to be frank, I don't really get a lot of messages. I've gotten a few in the past but those were years ago. This time, I'm starting fresh." She did a small fistpump and grinned.

Her date was about to reply, but the two plates of food and two drinks came before.

"Here you go," their waiter said. "One potato croquette, one plate of anpan, one kocha and one Japanese iced tea," he announced, mentally ticking off their order.

"Thank you," they both said, smiling at the waiter.

Then, as if in unison, the two clasped their hands together. "Thank you for the food!" they both announced, before they started to dig into their food.

Throughout the process, they both kept their table manners - elbows off the table and whatnot.

Towards the end, Lucy started to slow down her pace of eating. She wasn't eating lunch with Natsu, who ate massively quicker than she did.

No.

She was eating with the person she met on the internet. Hibiki Lates. Who ate at a slow pace, though she didn't mind. She liked his gentlemanly behaviour - holding doors for her, pulling out her chair before his own. And even though she insisted him not to show that side, he insisted back that he should. His senior had taught him and the rest of the Trimens to.

Granted, she didn't know what the Trimens was, but she didn't want to ask as Hibiki was still eating his potato croquette.

Slowly, she sipped her cup of kocha tea.

* * *

"Listen, Hibiki," the blonde author started, rocking back and forth on her heels.

They were both currently on the level that had the Space-Time Navigation, overlooking the view. The silence that had settled before them a couple minutes prior was similar to the one that had settled in between her and Natsu the day before.

The ginger-haired male raised a brow and and looked at her curiously. "What's wrong? Are you cold? Here, I'll give you my jacket." He automatically proceeded to take his blazer off and draped it around Lucy's shoulders. "You should be fine, now."

By instinct, the woman smiled and steadily gripped onto the edges of the blazer. "Thank you, but that's not it. It's just... when I said that I'd come here once before... it was yesterday. I came here yesterday, because I didn't know my way around. I came here with a friend, becausehe knew his way around."

His brow rose higher. "'He'?"

She squeaked at her mistake. "I mean... well, um, he offered to take me around and there was no one else around so.. so..." she was starting to struggle to come up with a good enough excuse. Maybe if she thought it over it would've been a smoother ride. "So he took me on a tour around the Skytree yesterday. It was around this time as well, so it feels similar."

"Is that why you've been smiling to yourself ever since I came back from the ticket counter?"

"W-What?" Slightly taken aback, she then realized her cheeks were hurting like hell. She lifted her hands up to ease the slight pain, though it didn't help in the slightest. "W-Well, when I heard you talk to the lady at the ticket counter, I immediately thought back to when Natsu was picking up the reserve and realized how similar your sentences were. I-I'm sorry - it's just that I've been hanging around him a lot and I think he's starting to rub off on me already."

The male gently smiled and nodded, before he then went a step further and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, in attempt to keep her even warmer. "It's fine, Lucy. We're just getting to know each other - we're bound to find things that are unexpected."

Nearly mutely, she laughed with the gentlest tone. "Yeah, I guess. It's really... really unexpected."

"Wait, so Natsu was the one who brought you here?"

"Yes - didn't I mention it before?"

"No, not really."

"Oh. My apologizes.

* * *

"Here you go."

"Thanks."

Lucy turned around to face Hibiki, who gazed at the food presented in front of him.

"I've never had this before, though," Hibiki then stated as they walked away from the queue.

The blonde stopped in her tracks, food about to enter her mouth.

Today was practically two days of Natsu merged into one.

"Okay, look, Hibiki, I don't want to be rude, but can you just eat it? I already had to explain this type of problem with Natsu, and I don't want to re-explain anything."

Slowly, and somewhat hesitantly, he nodded and ate the piece of food, biting back his tongue to avoid expressing the wonderful flavor.

* * *

She turned around, chaining her door as she locked it.

"Levy's coming back tomorrow, so that's a good thing..." she muttered as she distantly took her bag and coat off, hanging it on the coat hanger. "I wonder what I'm going to tell Natsu and Mira... And Gray and Cana, too..."

"Hey, how was the date?"

She jumped at the voice, snapping out of her trance as she blinked, the wind knocked out of her. Her hand landed on her chest, as if trying to feel her rapid heartbeat. "W-What?" she breathed, her brows becoming furrowed slightly. Pursing her lips, she inwardly pinched herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Natsu was standing there, chewing on what seemed like a packet of crisps. "'Sup. How was it? Did you kiss? What happened? Did you go to the same places we went to?"

Before she could register any of the questions he had hastily asked, a scowl rised onto her face.

"How the _hell_ did you get in here?!"

* * *

**So, yeah. I'm really sorry if the date itself is crap - I haven't exactly been on one in a while (I'm a single-pringle, yo).**

**And I had to research some Japanese table manners etc.**

**Review for me? c: Btw, Prankster's Side of Intimacy will be updated some time next week, hopefully!**


	9. Le Osaka Return

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**I love writing this story so much. Did you know that? -laugh-**

**And guess who's coming back this chapter!**

**Or, you know... don't.**

**UPDATE: Fixed some errors.**

********_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing._********

* * *

_9: Le Osaka Return_

_Levy returns from her holiday down in the South of Japan, and her partner doesn't seem to show himself around others. She then meets what seemed like the only married couple in the whole of Fairy Tail, whilst on the other side, Lucy had faced something that was, at first, a one-time celebration.  
_

* * *

"I'm back... Lu...!" She blinked, slowly setting down her bag. "Huh? Where's Lu?"

"I dunno, and I ain't bothered. I'm goin' home. See ya, Shrimp," a gruff voice said from behind, red eyes scanning the area as the apartment living room looked deserted.

The blue-haired woman swiftly pivoted on her heel and puffed out her cheeks in exasperation. "Hey, Gajeel! Don't just leave like that! At least help me find Lu!"

He gave her a wave and his voice filled the air. "What about the cafe? Bunnygirl's bound to there, ain't she? I mean, she spends like all her time over there anyway, so why not?"

"She could be Akihabara." She frowned and picked up her bag once more, pulling her door to close it then lock it. She attempted to simultaneously pay attention to Gajeel and lock her door, and somehow succeeded. Carefully, she started to follow in her companian's footsteps, though she quickly noticed him speeding up his pace, which caused her to start running a little. "Wait for me, Gajeel!"

* * *

"I already told you I'm sorry! How much do I need to say it?"

"A few more times, and I might forgive you."

"Ugh, what am I even saying sorry for anyway?"

"A) breaking into my apartment - that's trespassing and B) raiding my fridge! You have absolutely no right to be raiding my fridge, Natsu!"

"I didn't raid your fridge, Lucy. I raided the snacks cupboard. Simple."

Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Natsu, you get what I mean. Now, tell me how you got in."

The pink-haired male opened his mouth to answer, but somebody else interrupted him.

"Lu!"

Lucy turned around, being greeted a familiar blue-haired woman. "Lu! I thought you were kidnapped or something!"

"W-What do you mean?" she stammered, stealing a quick glance at Natsu, who instantly turned away and whistled the first tune that popped into his head. "Um... so, you came back from Osaka?"

Levy pulled away from Lucy and nodded brightly. "Yeah, yeah! I bought you some stuff! Anyway, how were you whilst I was gone?"

Gray then appeared out of nowhere, coughing into his fist. "Natsu-took-Lucy-on-a-date!"

Being the decipher she was, Levy started jumping up and down, squealing as her eyes started to sparkle. "Omigod, Lu! You have a boyfriend now - congratulations!"

The blonde took another quick glance at Natsu, and hesitantly gave out a nervous laugh. "Well, no... it was a one-time thing, and he only showed me around the Skytree as well."

"It was a date!" she squealed, her voice starting to go high-pitched as the surrounding people started to cover their ears.

Natsu scrunched up his nose and closed one eye, tightly. "Damn, she's loud. Lucy, is your friend really okay?"

The said woman snapped her head towards him. "Shut up! Don't you dare insult Levy! And you don't have a say in this!"

Inhaling sharply, he gave her a look. "I don't have a say in this? I heard my name."

"From Gray," she shot back. "Besides, he attempted to mask it, so there."

He struggled with a comeback, which resulted in his scowling at her and turning away in exasperation.

"Who's that?" Gajeel asked, a bored look on his face.

"Who?" Mirajane asked kindly as she came out from behind Lucy, cup in hand. "And here's your drink, Lucy."

Lucy spun around and smiled, grabbing the drink. "Thanks, Mira. Oh, could you get Levy a drink as well? It's on me. And Gajeel, as well. If he's staying."

Levy nearly gave a big grin to her best friend. "Aw, Lu! You don't have to do that!"

Gajeel scrunched up his nose in disgust. "Well, I'm sleepy right now and I'm not thirsty, so I'm leaving. See ya later, Levy."

The blue-haired 23-year-old, this time, didn't protest and let the man leave, hearing him slam the door closed.

Things shook ever so slightly once the action was committed, but nobody minded.

Natsu then came back, cookie in his mouth, as it looked like he was on break.

Mirajane snapped her head towards him, raising a brow. "What are you doing, Natsu?" she asked, a rare, confused look on her face.

He blinked, biting into the cookie before his hand took hold of it. "Um, going on break?" he attempted to tell, not sure whether it was the right answer or not.

Slowly narrowing her blue, sapphire eyes at him, she eventually nodded, before turning back to Lucy.

"So, Levy, was it? What would you like to drink? It's not on Lucy anymore, it's on us."

"W-Wait, Mira! I owe Levy something, and that something is paying for her drink. And mine. But that's a different story - we'll move on to that later," Lucy protested, a small pout on her face.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Natsu eyeing her, but he then looked away to look around like he's never seen the world before.

Levy laughed, before she herself interjected. "It's okay, Lu," she reassured. "You can buy me this book I've been trying to buy at the library. Oh, that's right. How's it going with that book me and Erza bought you?"

Her gears in her mind crashed to a halt. She absolutely forgot about the book that she put on her bookshelf a couple of days ago.

She had so much to do - Akihabara, Natsu and her in Akihabara, Gray's party, Natsu and her in the Tokyo Skytree and her and Hibiki in the Tokyo Skytree.

She starting look away slowly, also starting to move out of the way. "Um... I-I haven't exactly started it yet..." she confessed, poking her two index fingers together.

Levy let out a small sound of disbelief. "Eh? What have you been doing for the past few days, Lu?"

"She's been - " Gray started, but was met halfway by Natsu stomping his foot, causing him to yelp aloud. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"That - " he paused to cross his arms over his chest, " - was for speaking up. Don't speak up." He glared at him, their eyes locking.

Each of their eyes danced with rivalry and fighting spirit, but neither of them moved.

* * *

"Lu, you have a boyfriend now? Tell me what he's like. Is he handsome? Is he sexy? Is he everything you dreamed him to be? Is he funny? Is he tall? How old is he?"

Levy's questions kept going and going and going, until Lucy was grateful that she shut up when they arrived at the library.

Lucy shut the door once the bell rung, and she looked over to the counter and saw a familiar, blue-haired girl. "Hello, Juvia," she greeted.

Juvia looked up and smiled brightly. "Hello, Lucy," she greeted back. She seemed more formal that she would act around Lucy outside of work. "Are you looking for a book that Juvia could check out for you?"

She shook her head. "No, no. Not really. Levy's just looking for the book she wants me to buy for her," she explained.

Juvia cocked her head in confusion. "What do you mean you have to buy it for her?"

Laughing nervously, she smiled a little. "Well, to be honest, I kind of owe Levy one," she explained further, coming to the counter as she attempted to find her best friend throughout all the aisles at her angle.

"It's gone!" the two heard the 23-year-old bookworm exclaim. "It's gone, Lu! The book I wanted is gone!"

Juvia frowned, before she grabbed a large folder from one of her drawers and opened it. "Which book is it, Levy?"

"Um, it's called 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage'," Levy said, frowning a little as she approached the counter, where Juvia and Lucy were.

The 24-year-old blue-haired woman started flipping through the folder, her brows furrowed. "And here I thought I could get the book after I came back from Osaka."

Juvia's eyebrows then raised up, and a questioning look spread across her face. "Levy, the book you want has already been bought by someone else."

The author and her best friend let out identical sounds of disbelief. "No way!" Levy wailed. "Lu, did you do this?"

"What? No. I haven't been reading for the past few days, anyway," the said woman defended, referring to the events she had been to. "There's no way I could juggle 2 books at once whilst writing one."

Levy furrowed her brows, the atmosphere sinking into a serious one. "Juvia, who was it bought by?"

"Um, Bisca Connell," she replied, flipping through some more pages.

The two customers shared a questioning look. "Bisca Connell?"

"I've never heard of her before," Levy said.

"How about checking Fairy Tail?" Juvia suggested, closing the large folder as a faint but audible thud sounded.

* * *

"Natsu, is there anyone called Bisca Connell here?"

Natsu blinked, his mind going blank. Then it struck him. "Aren't you supposed to be Akihabara?"

She waved a dismissing hand at him. "Nevermind that. Is there somebody called Bisca Connell?"

The pink-haired man's mind registered the question and the answer instantly popped into his mind. "Um, yeah. She's French but speaks fluent Japanese. Go on. What's up?"

Levy stepped in front of Lucy. "She has this book I really, really need!"

He raised a brow. "Need, or want?" Amusement thinly coated his words.

"I need that book! It's for my collection!"

"Collection of books?"

"Natsu!" Lucy scowled, narrowing her eyes. "Stop it. And if she's French, you could learn some off of her."

He groaned slightly, before he turned around. "Fine, fine. Just give me a few minutes." He walked away from the two girls into the back before approaching them minutes later. "She said she'd be here in a few."

"Hello, I'm Bisca Connell. Is there something wrong?" A green-haired woman smiled at the two, her purple eyes shining with friendliness. Lucy noticed she had a small French accent, but she didn't mind. It fit her Japanese.

"Yes," Levy answered almost immediately. "A couple of days ago, did you buy a book called 'Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage'?"

The older-looking woman nodded her head after a few minutes. "That's right. Do you want it?"

"More or less," Levy said, starting to get a little impatient. "Is it here or at your place?"

"It should be at the back somewhere," Bisca answered, turning around to walk back to where she came from.

Natsu then cleared his throat to clear out the silence. "So, that's Bisca."

Lucy gave him a small smile. "You could learn some French from her, you know, for next time."

Quickly, he scrunched up his nose. "No way. I already told you that. Next time, I'll go in with Spanish."

The blonde cocked her head ever so slightly. "But you don't know anybody who knows Spanish."

"Oh, shut up!"

Bisca then came back into view with something in her hand. She placed it on the counter. "This is what you wanted, right?"

Levy nodded, an excited look on her face. "Yes! I've read all of his books but this one. I only recently saw the book in the library, but I didn't buy it as I wanted to see if anyone would buy it before I would."

"I see," Bisca nodded, before a smile spread across her face. "All right."

"Huh?"

"You can have it."

"B-But then I'll have to pay you for the book."

The French woman quickly shook her head, her strands of green hair flowing over her shoulders. "It's fine. I mean, you can just repay me another day."

The blonde frowned and dug her hand into her bag to pull out her purse.

"Lu..."

"Lucy..."

The blue-haired woman and the pink-haired waiter attempted to stop the female from doing anything rash.

"No," the 24-year-old denied, pulling out 2 1000 yen notes. "Here, I owe Levy this. Keep the change, Bisca - I need to get to Akihabra; I told my team that I'd be there today."

Natsu stepped in. "Do you want me to take you?"

She gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry, Natsu. The station is working just fine today. Maybe another day."

"Have you checked?"

"Well, no - "

"Exactly. I'm taking you."

He walked around the counter and grabbed her wrist, before swinging the glass door open and dragging the blonde author down the all-too familiar road.

* * *

Bisca smiled, her red lips curving up. "Here you go. Make sure you give the change to Lucy - I don't care how much she protests, just give it to her. Our thanks for being such an amazing customer over the past year."

Levy beamed one of the brightest smiles she has ever given. "Okay. I'll make sure to give it to Lu. Thank you, again, Bisca. I'll return this book to you as soon as I finish reading it."

Sighing a little, the Frenchwoman shook her head for what seemed the 100th time that Monday morning. "I already told you, you don't have to be that eager to return it. You could always give it to Lucy for her to read."

Laughing a little, she scratched the back of head, subconsciously readjusting the headband on her head. "No, no. Me and a friend of ours already bought her a book for her to read, so I don't think she can actual juggle two at once."

Bisca let out a small sound of understanding, and nodded profoundly. "I see. So, is Lucy a bookworm like you?"

The blue-haired woman registered the question for a moment, trying to think of the perfect answer without revealing too much. It was nearly striking 7, and that was the time that early morning customers that were heading off to businesses to come in and order their drinks for the day ahead. "Um, I-I guess. But Lu's also a writer as well."

The green-haired woman's eyebrows raised. "Oh? What does she write?"

Business men started to walk in, and Mirajane stepped in to take care of their orders as Bisca beckoned Levy to come round.

The blue-haired woman did what she was told and slipped through, a small but slightly timid smile on her face. "Thank you, Bisca."

"No worries. Come on, I'll introduce you to my husband," the Frenchwoman offered, loosely taking hold of Levy's wrist, dragging her further.

The best friend of the famous author suddenly then became flustered, attempting to protest but failing.

"W-Wait!"

"Alzack, meet Levy. She's one of Lucy's friends."

A man who looked the same age as Bisca turned around and gave the smaller woman a broad smile. "Nice to meet you, Levy. I'm Alzack, Bisca's husband."

The two acquaintances shook hands, and the male then turned to his wife to kiss her on the cheek.

"Say, I don't think I've seen her around that much. Have you, Bis?"

"No. I saw her one time, but that was only once, Al," the Frenchwoman answered.

Levy sweat-dropped, nervously smiling. "I-I don't mean to be rude or anything, but you're kind of treating me like a little kid who's lost in a candy shop or something."

Alzack noticed, and grinned at her sheepishly. "Sorry, sorry! So, you want a beverage, or something?"

The blue-haired woman put her index finger to her chin and hummed a small, but memorisable tune. "What does Lu usually have?"

The two co-workers shared a look, as if unsure what the woman usually did have. "We're not quite sure, but I think she usually orders some sort of coffee or cappuccino."

"Oh? You mean Lucy? Yeah, no, she orders a range. Cappuccino, coffee, latte etc. And a blueberry scone, too. Never cookies." Gray came into view, part of his work shirt hanging off his shoulder, with one arm actually clothed with the shirt. The other arm was proudly exposed. "Huh. I'm pretty sure Natsu said that she said she wanted cookies at one point though..." The male started muttering to himself, before he then exclaimed. "Gah! Where's that bastard?! I need to beat the crap outta him for stealing my drink!"

Levy tilted her head, slightly confused. "Is he okay?" she asked, turning her head to look at the married couple, who were trying to stifle what seemed like laughs.

The two waved a hand. "No, no," Alzack declined, exhaling. "It's normal for Gray to walk around like that. It's quite humourous, though."

"Doesn't it embarrass him?"

"He doesn't even realize it."

"How?!"

"Somebody - probably Natsu, knowing him - said that he had a really, really odd habit of taking off his clothes at the worst time. It possibly had something to do with where he lived before England," Bisca piped in, starting to think back a little.

Levy blinked, utterly shocked and weirded out.

How could Lucy Heartfilia, her best friend, love this coffee shop? Café, even!

Her expressions changed from shock, to surprise, to disgust, to something she couldn't even tell.

"That's a lot of faces you're pulling, Levy," Alzack stated, giving her a smile.

"Has Lu been coming here for a really long time?"

"A couple of years, I think." The two shared another look, as if having some sort of telepathic conversation between themselves. "How about you, Levy? Have you come here a lot?"

She started shuffling a little in her spot, gripping her bag. "Haha, not quite. I mean, yeah, I guess the atmostphere is nice and springy and, um, nice - my vocabulary isn't as good as Lu's, unfortunately - but I haven't exactly tried any of the menu items."

"Mm, Nab actually makes some pretty good waffles, and Cana makes the best cocktails during public parties," the black-haired male suggested.

Bisca nodded. "That's right," she agreed, her small French accent settling in. "Mira makes the most amazing coffee and cappuccinos, though."

"What about the scones and muffins?" Levy inquired, cocking her head. "I see Lu is quite fond of Fairy Tail's muffins and scones."

"Oh, doesn't Lisanna or Mira make those?"

"No, Mira is in charge of hot drinks. I'm pretty sure it's Lisanna who makes the muffins and scones."

The couple started to debate, trying to calculate who makes what in the coffee shop.

* * *

"Natsu, you didn't have to take me, you know that." Lucy sighed, shaking her head.

"Hey, the line wasn't working and today could've been a repeat of last time," Natsu countered. "Now, I wanna see how far along you are on the book." He started to move his wrists in a 'Keep moving, woman' motion, which caused the two to quickly rush to the elevator. "Hurry, hurry."

Lucy gave him a look. "When were you so desperate to look at my book?"

"I don't know, I just woke up today with the urge - just go!"

"All right, all right, I'm entering the elevator now, jeez - calm down."

The two shuffled into the metal box, yelling at each other to shut up, as people from the rooms on the ground floor shushed them.

"Shut up," Lucy hissed, furrowing her brows.

"I am, you shut up," the pink-haired man hissed back, then grabbing her arm and yanking her into the elevator before spamming the close doors button.

The duo watched the doors close in awkward silence, and neither of them wanted to disrupt the silence.

The ding that told them that they had reached their floor sounded, and they both winced, stepping out.

Lucy pulled the door open, being greeted by chaos and everybody running about, papers flying everywhere.

One fell on the floor in front of Natsu's feet, and he leant down to pick it up.

"_Akihabara Christmas Parade_?" he read the top of the sheet out loud, which caused the blonde to sneak a peek as well.

"Guys, what's this?" she called, her voice loud enough for the others to hear.

Meredy froze in her step, turning her head. "Oh, that! Um, it's nothing special. Just something small we planned."

Lucy pointed towards her, also trying to point out everybody else. "You guys are Grimoire Heart. This says Akihabara. Are you guys planning something that has something to with something that's a month away?"

"That's a lot of somethings," Natsu mumbled under his breath, covering up his mouth with his hand.

The author snapped her head towards him, anger on her face. "You, shut up. You have no say in this. Give me the sheet."

He obeyed and stepped aside, then stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"Right, so it says...

_Rules:_

_\- No telling Ms. Heartfilia! She'll freak out about this!  
_

_\- Try our very best with this - we need everybody involved!_

_\- The deadline in Christmas. Eve; we can do this, everybody!_" she read out, earning bashful expressions from her editor team. "No telling me? I'll probably find this sooner or later, and definitely before Christmas Eve, guys."

Meredy shrugged, trying to lighten the mood slightly. "Maybe, maybe not, you never know, Ms. Heartfilia."

Sighing and shaking her head, she turned her head towards Natsu, who just gave her a small grin and a shrug.

* * *

**Okay, so the thing isn't exactly a celebration. It's a parade. That includes the whole of Akihabara. Whatever!**

**This chapter was... eh. I attempted to give Levy some sort of screen time, so here we are. Gajeel will appear more often in future chapters, so be prepared. c:**

**Also, the pace of the story will start to change in later chapters, from day-to-day to a couple of days, maybe even weeks, as I realized November to February is 4 months, and the average days for 4 months in 120 days, and 120 odd chapters just doesn't seem right, so here I am talking about it.**

**Review, and maybe tell me what ideas you could give for later? c:**


	10. Le Lunch Get-Together

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! The Christmas special for this story is up; make sure to read it if you haven't!  
**

**********_Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing._**********

* * *

_10: Le Lunch Get-Together  
_

_Saying that she'll bring everybody out for lunch for all of their hard work, Lucy agrees to the restaurant they pick. Somehow, Natsu gets tagged along with her and two make a deal on something that would take them a while to figure out.  
_

* * *

"We can talk about this later," Ultear said, coming into the blonde's line of vision. "Anyway, we should get to work. Lucy, we should have lunch outside of this room today. Being cooped in here with some of these idiots just kill me. Slowly, but painfully, as they say."

Lucy raised a brow. "So you're saying you want to have lunch in a restaurant along the streets in Akiba?"

"When you put it like that, you make me want to eat lunch more."

Smiling warmly, the blonde nodded approvingly. "All right, then. Guys," she called, catching everybody's attention, "today, we're having lunch in Akiba, and not in here. For all of your hard work, it's on me."

Everybody in the room practically cheered, before it slowly died down again, comfortable silence settling in.

Natsu approached her, hands in pockets. "You know any restaurants?"

She turned his head, her eyes lighting up. "Well, of course, but I'm letting Ultear choose this time. You wanna come too?"

He scrunched up his nose in something that resembled disgust. "Mhm. Maybe."

She rolled her eyes, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around to push him to the desk they worked on only a couple of days ago. "Sit."

"Don't you - "

"I said sit."

He scowled at her. "I'm trying to be a gentleman, and here's how you treat me?"

Sighing, she rolled her eyes once more. "Fine, get up and get your own chair."

"But you said - "

"Oh my god, just get your own chair, Natsu."

Betrayal filling his eyes, he pouted and started to slowly walk away to get a chair for himself.

"Jeez, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

"I can still hear you!"

"Whatever!"

"I won't let you to come with us!"

"I'm not 5 years old, Lucy!"

"I'm serious!"

"No, you're not!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

Natsu and Lucy had they long-distance argument in the mildly large office, and the rest just listened in silence.

"Yes, I am, Natsu. And I don't care if you're 24 or something like that. I won't let you come with us."

Natsu stopped in his tracks as he was pulling a chair behind him, scraping its legs across the carpeted floor.

"I'm 25, thank you very much, and I'm coming with you, regardless of what crap you pull."

Carefully, though somewhat carelessly at the same time, he threw the chair next to Lucy and sat down attempting to get comfortable.

"All right then, what we working with today?"

Lucy stood up slightly to reach over to grab some paper, and she placed it in front of Natsu.

"These - " she pointed at them whilst sitting down, " - are some new drafts I crafted whilst at home and at Fairy Tail."

He picked up the first piece of paper from the pile and scanned his eyes over it.

"All I can see is scribbles and words I can't even read."

She glanced over at the paper he was reading and snatched it off him. "Oh, that's just a shopping list I was supposed to give to Levy. I made it at like 2 in the morning, so you know."

He gave her a weird look, wondering what the hell she was doing awake at two in the morning.

"I couldn't get to sleep, okay! And I was half-drunk."

Natsu's eyes widened. "Woah. Damn. You - drunk? Didn't think that was possible."

"Ugh, I was in college and it just ended up in the pile, okay? The next one should be an actual draft."

The pink-haired man chuckled at little, before picking up the next piece of paper. "All right, so this says... um.. something about a snowstorm and water and other weather crap?"

"Oh, that's a weather report. In fact, I don't think this pile is actual drafts."

Natsu groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. "Were you, like, drinking last night?"

Hitting him upside the head, she scowled at him. "No - of course not! You know exactly what I've been up to!"

"You mean going on that date with that guy who I never exactly met?"

"Why'd you need to meet him? To approve of him?"

"Yes!"

"You're not my parent."

"I still want to approve of him!"

"Well, you're not going to, okay? I need to go home and get the drafts. These are just piles of crap from years ago."

"I'll drive you - "

"Nope, you stay."

Lucy walked nearer towards the exit, before she turned towards Meredy. "Meredy, keep an eye on him. He might escape."

The pink-haired woman gave her a salute, a small pile of papers in her hand. "Okay, Ms. Heartfilia! I will."

Natsu's groan was heard throughout the room as the blonde woman exited the building.

"Lucy, you're so mean!"

* * *

"So, where do you guys wanna go?"

Everybody trailed behind Lucy and Ultear as they roamed the streets, somehow taking up most of the space. "There's so many places to go to," Ultear said, looking around. "I'm not actually sure."

Lucy giggled, sending the black-haired woman a warming smile. "It's fine, take your time. There's a lot to choose from, so I know how you feel."

The familiar pink-haired waiter walked behind the author, only about 2 steps behind. He had a small pout on his face, his head tilted up slightly as he stared at the sky with all the lights dotted around.

"And Natsu, stop pouting."

His head snapped towards her, a small look of being taken aback spreading across his features. "W-What, I wasn't doing anything," he childishly protested.

She gave him a small smile and slowed down her pace to keep in time with him. "Look, just don't pick any fights, all right? I don't want to pay any damage fees that you and the person you pick a fight with bring up."

He looked away, scrunching up his nose. "I don't pick fights," he mumbled. "They're the one picking fights with me."

"Maybe between you and Gray, but this isn't Fairy Tail, Natsu. You have to behave!" she then instructed, as she noticed Ultear picking out a restaurant. She left the pink-haired male to walk solo as she made her way back to her original position.

"Lamia Scale? I have to say, these guys are pretty good. They have good service and all," Lucy commented at the other woman's suggestion. "Should we go in?"

Everybody nodded, and Lucy then pulled the door open.

"Welcome! Oh, it's Lucy! Wow, you having a little party?" A pink-haired woman who somewhat looked similar to Meredy, greeted with a beaming smile. "How many are there?"

The blonde started to do a head count, muttering under her breath. "We split into 2 groups, so that must mean we have about 9 here. Can somebody double check?"

Natsu approached her and joined her in the head count, counting themselves before he confirmed the number.

"All right! Lyon, could you get a 9-seat table for these lovely customers?"

"A 9-seat?!"

A silver-haired man came into everybody's vision, a scowl on his face. "Sherry, we don't have a 9-seat table, that's the problem."

"Well, for the love of these people, make one!" the woman named Sherry exclaimed, furrowing her brows as she glared at the man.

Natsu, who decided to off with Lucy and her team, stared at the silver-haired man for a moment. He swore he'd heard of him before. "Lyon..." he muttered, furrowing his brows.

Lucy glanced at him. "Something wrong?"

"Huh?" He snapped out of his trance, and looked at the woman with a slightly shocked expression. "N-No, it's just that I've heard the name Lyon before. I just don't know where."

The blonde woman frowned. "I'm friends with Lyon and the other staff, but I don't remember him bringing up anybody from - oh, hold on... I think at one point he brought up his childhood and said Gray's name..."

Natsu exclaimed. "Gah! That's where I heard his name! Gray is - "

"Lyon's cousin!"

"Lyon's brother!"

The two blinked at each other, registering each other's answers.

"Brother?"

"Cousin?"

"That seems unlikely, Lucy."

"No, they act alike and they even have the same stripping habit! It's obvious they're brothers, Natsu."

"You don't know that. How about a DNA test?"

"We can't do a DNA test now! We're in a restaurant."

"Fine. Give it three weeks. I will prove to you that they are merely cousins."

"All right. It's a deal."

The two shook their hands, determination burning in their eyes. There was absolutely no backing out now, that's for sure.

Lyon guided the group to the 9-seat table he had formed, and bowed. "Would you guys like to start with drinks?"

Lucy took a quick glance at Natsu, who sat opposite her. "I'd like to, Lyon. I'll take a kocha tea."

The silver-haired man nodded, before turning to the rest of the group, asking for their drink orders until he finally came to Natsu, the last one.

"Eh, I'll have what she's having," he said, nodding towards the woman sitting opposite him. "I don't care, man. Surprise me."

Lyon stared at him for a few minutes, before nodding and writing down the order. He then went away, still looking at the order as he did.

A couple of minutes later, when chatter started to rise from the group, Natsu then felt a sudden, throbbing pain in his shin.

He hissed and glared at the woman sitting opposite him, who was glaring at him back. "You purposely ordered the same tea as me, didn't you?" she hissed at him.

"No. I'm not that hungry, really," he answered casually, trying to get the throbbing pain away.

"Liar," she then said, leaning back in her seat as she crossed her arms.

In the corner of her eye, she saw Lyon in the distance. "Sorry, Lyon!" she called, beckoning him to come over.

"What are you doing!" Natsu whispered, his voice frantic.

"Hey, Lucy, what's wrong?" he asked, pulling out his pad and pen. "You want to order something?"

"No, I was just wondering, the last time you mentioned that person Gray... do you know where he works?"

The standing man thought about it for a moment, placing his pen and pad back into their original places. "Hm, I think it's a place called Fairy Tail. I'm not sure the last time I called him. Wait, I'll call him on my next break."

When he walked away talking to himself, it was now Lucy's turn to get throbbing pain in her shin. "Are you crazy? You're practically manipulating him now to give us information! That's cheating!"

"I'm not cheating! There were never rules in the first place, anyway," she shot back, scowling at him.

The two were silent after that, as if thinking up some sort of strategy to prove Lyon in their own heads.

"Why are you with us anyway? You would've been better off Kain."

Natsu and Lucy glanced at the man who said that, who sported blonde hair in a style that cascaded down his back in spikes.

Ultear sighed and shook her head. "Don't be like this, Zancrow. We agreed not to be rude."

"I'm not being rude!" He narrowed his red eyes and scowled at the pink-haired man, who reacted a small, curious stare.

"Who's Kain?" Natsu whispered to the blonde author.

"One of my other editors. He's older than all of us. I'll explain later," she brushed the question off, looking interested in the Zancrow and Natsu rivalry.

He clicked his tongue and switched his attention back to Zancrow.

"That little bastard is trying to pick up Ms. Heartfilia! It's totally clear! I mean, they're even sitting across each other and talking to only each other and sending googly eyes!" he exclaimed, standing up from his seat and pointing at the pair at the other end of the table.

Natsu stood up as well, rolling up his sleeves. "Okay, buddy. First things first, I am _not _trying to pick her up. If I was, I would've succeeded ages ago. Second, we're merely talking amongst ourselves because we're comfortable in each other's presence like this. And third, how the hell do you do googly eyes?"

Once he had said the first sentence, Lucy's face burst into a wall of flames.

"Natsu..."

Within the next two minutes, Natsu was holding his cheek and groaning as he hit his forehead on the table multiple times.

Ultear raised a brow, certainly amused. "I certainly didn't expect that," she said, smiling devilishly.

"Ugh... I feel so hurt... Lucy, you're so mean," he moaned, his forehead making contact with the tabletop once more.

Lyon came over, plates of food on his arms. "Is everything okay? By the way, here's your food." He handed them out, correctly giving them to the respective person.

Lucy smiled at him, her tone sarcastic. "Yup. Everything's fine, Lyon."

Natsu groaned. "My cheek hurts... I wanna go home..."

"You can't, you're my ride," Lucy said, smirking at his current state. "Now, eat. And eat slow. And don't put your elbows on the table, idiot!" She kicked him in the shin once more after everybody - including her - had said grace.

The pink-haired male pouted and looked at his food. "Lucy, I wanna swap."

"What?"

His sudden request had her taken aback, and she looked up to look at him with a confused expression. "No, you eat what you ordered."

He groaned once more, picking up his chopsticks and tearing them apart. "You're mean."

"Can we eat in silence, please?" Ultear's voice asked, silencing the both of them almost instantly.

However, they still shared playful glares and even had small staring contests in between.

* * *

"What's your job?"

"Huh?" Natsu blinked at the sudden question, looking at the person who said it.

"I said, what's your job?" Zancrow repeated, crossing his arms and leaning back. "I mean, you must be pretty good to be all the way out here courting Ms. Heartfilia."

The waiter snorted. "I'm pretty sure my job is better than yours."

"Fine," the blonde man challenged. "Tell me."

Natsu shrugged. "I'm a waiter."

Zancrow burst out laughing, and people began to stare after a few moments. "At what cafe? Probably a crappy one, I bet."

"Not really. It's pretty good. Everybody's like family. Man, even Gramps is awesome. It's called Fairy Tail."

Zancrow was still laughing, though his later slowly died down. "Haha... ha... w-what? Y-You work at that shit cafe? That's impossible. I-I mean... look at you."

Lucy glared at the red-eyed editor, who was oblivious to her doing the action. "Zancrow, you haven't even been to Fairy Tail."

"A-And you have?" he was surprised by her sudden contribution to the conversation.

"Of course. Granted, I'm from Kyoto, but I moved to the centre of Tokyo and it was the only coffee shop open at the time. I ordered their cappuccino and it was the best of the best. I think it was Gray who served me."

"What?"

Natsu butted in, blinking as he stared at her, eyes wide. "_Gray _served you? That snowcone couldn't have. I-I mean..."

"I've lived in this city for a year and a half, Natsu. You started working after my first 6 months. Then you came and took my order and you started serving me permanently from that day on," Lucy explained, trying to make him refresh his memory and see if he had that stored.

The pink-haired man thought about it for a moment, humming a small tune as he did. "I dunno, Luce. I don't remember any of that happening, at all."

The author sighed, shaking her head. "Whatever, nevermind. It doesn't matter, anyway."

"Yes, it does!" Natsu fought, pouting once more.

She stared at him, a slight frown on her face. "No, it doesn't."

"It does."

"It doesn't, Natsu."

"It does. Look, Luce, granted, I don't remember anything about me permanently getting to serve you, but if anything, I remember still serving you regardless. I can just see you sitting there writing in your Happy notebook whilst eating scones and drinking cappuccino or whatever drink you ordered."

Lucy softly smiled at him, and nodded. "Yeah. You know, before I moved to Tokyo, I got all my inspiration for Thor and the start of Skadi from a small cafe in Kyoto called Love &amp; Lucky. It was a nice place, and apparently my parents met there."

"Whaat?!" Natsu exclaimed, before slapping his hand over his mouth once people stared at them, possibly wondering if they were just sitting there in the restaurant talking or actually there to order and eat. "Your parents met in Kyoto?" he hissed. "Wow. I.. I don't know where my parents met. I mean, sure, they're gone now, but I can probably still figure it out somehow."

"My first guess would be England. And my second would be Japan. My last guess would probably be France, judging by your bad French-speaking skills," Lucy mused, smirking a little.

He showed his shock, his obsidian eyes going wide. "I-I am not bad at speaking French! I took French classes back in England, but I've forgotten half of what I've learnt, so there!"

Lucy chuckled. "'Learnt'," she said. "That's so British."

"Shut up! Stop making fun of me, Lucy! You're so mean," he mumbled, looking away. "I'm not gonna speak to you anymore."

The blonde still smirked at him, happy how this was turning out. She rarely got to do this with Levy, as they had little time together at home, so winning this argument with Natsu was a real treat.

"Aw, I was having fun."

Ultear then called for the receipt, Lyon coming over.

"Lucy," he called. "I called Gray and he said that he's still working at Fairy Tail. It's also Ul's anniversary soon, so we'll be meeting up at some point before Christmas," he also said, smiling a little.

Lucy smiled, liking the idea of how the two boys were going to the anniversary of their so-called Guardian, if she remembered correctly from Mirajane. "Eh, is that so? Are you two related?"

The silver-haired waiter blinked. "What? I - " He was about to answer, but was interrupted by Sherry calling him over, and he quickly threw the small tray onto their table that had the receipt in.

All of them proceeded to grab it, and noticed each other's actions. "I'll pay it," they all said in unison. "Nope, it's on me."

Natsu started to scowl, before retracting his hand. "Whatever, I don't have enough to pay for it anyway."

The blonde chuckled, before retracting her own hand.

Natsu glared at her, pouting. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing," she sang, smiling to herself. "Just... nothing."

Ultear and her team decided to split the receipt, placing a fair amount of yen on the metal tray, before they saw Lyon come back over.

"Thanks for coming to Lamia Scale... come again soon...!" he called, his voice going distant as the 9 of them exited the restaurant.

The pink-haired waiter sighed, scratching the back of his head before readjusting his scarf. "Wow, that was long."

Ultear nodded in agreement. "Yes, it was. I didn't expect something like that to go on that long. Lucy, is this how lunches and dinners go in restaurants like Lamia?"

Lucy glanced at the black-haired woman, smiling a little. "Well, more or less. Once you start eating out in restaurants more, you get used to it, and you can end up staying there for hours just talking. It's amazing how time flies in restaurants, even mere coffee shops."

"Like Fairy Tail?" Zancrow inquired, butting into the conversation.

The author's attention drifted to him, and she nodded. "That's right. Coffee shops like Fairy Tail are the best to kill time in."

Natsu showed interest in the conversation, yet didn't contribute. He didn't want to interrupt her and get punched in the cheek again. However, his eyes grew slightly wider when he heard Lucy talk about the coffee shop he worked out, possibly even express her love towards it.

"I mean, Fairy Tail, after all, has the best waiters."

* * *

**I had no idea what to put as the last line, so here you go.**

**Also, if you haven't read the update of my profile already, in a couple of days, I will be uploading a new story, Meet the Band, which will be GrUvia-focused. c:**

**Anyway, in the story, today is Monday. When Erza comes back from her vacation with Jellal (yes, he will be finally making an appearance after being mentioned once), I will be picking up the pace of the story instead of picking it up at the start of December. **

**This is also my New Year's Eve/Day present to you guys, so Happy New Year and I hope you all have a great year this year!**


	11. Le Yokohama Hour I

**Lucy Power Project!  
**

* * *

**I have a new story up, _Contract of Magic_! It will focus around NaLu, and I'm also hoping to upload a GrUvia oneshot some point before the end of January, maybe the start of February if I get held up.  
**

**Also, this, um, "section", I suppose, will be split into two chapters. The whole Yokohama trip is 2 days, 1 night. This chapter covers their arrival, the majority of the first day of both GajEvy and NaLu and the end to the first day, whilst the next will cover the beginning of the second day, in Yokohama and their return to Fairy Tail.**

**Anyway, enjoy this chapter, everyone!**

**UPDATE: Fixed small errors.**

_**Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing.**_

* * *

_11: Le Yokohama Hour I_

_With Natsu wrapped up in Lucy's plans for the day again, he had no other choice except to miss yet another day's pay. Granted, he wasn't sure whether he hated her because she tangled him up in the mess or he loved her because she tangled him up in the mess. Either way, he was still going to be with her half of the time._

* * *

"Lu! Are you ready for Yokohama?"

"I'm ready when you are, Levy!"

The two girls squealed, holding hands as they jumped about, their suitcases for their trip nowhere to be seen.

"Listen, Luce, I'm happy to accompany you and all, but do I really have to carry the luggage as well?"

Natsu gave her a slightly pleading look, his hands full with suitcases in one and large bags in the other. "Luce? Lucy? Hello? Ugh, can we just _go_?"

Lucy separated from her best friend and laughed a little at Natsu, who merely scowled at her. "Yeah, sure, just put the stuff in the back."

"I will if you help me."

"Sure. Gajeel, help him."

"Not him, you!"

"Why me?"

"Because you were the one who dragged me all the way here, from Fairy Tail! Granted, my apartment is further, but still!"

"I merely invited you, Natsu. I didn't do anything else. You just tagged along, as it were."

"I - "

"Look, Salamander, if you and Bunny-Girl don't shut the fuck up right now I'm gonna beat the shit out of you and... just leave you be 'cause I don't want to be hurt by Levy."

The two stopped bickering and stared at the man who interfered in their gruff voice. "Thank you."

Natsu clicked his tongue and went to the boot of the car, setting down the suitcases. He opened the lid of the boot with his free hand and quickly dropped the large bags into it. "Dammit, help me you piece of metal tin can."

The insulted man scowled at him, and stomped in his direction.

"Listen here, you piece of shit. It's a Tuesday and I don't not feel happy."

"Hm, I could tell."

The two packed the boot in silence, time passing by them as the amount of luggage being brought with them only seemed to grow. Eventually, after about 5 minutes of silence between them, the boot was full and Gajeel slammed the lid shut, before they walked to the passenger and driver seats.

"A 40-minute ride to Yokohama... great. Time for me to miss another day's pay."

The two girls in the back cheered and throughout the ride, both of the boys listened to the background noise in silence as it slowly wore them down.

* * *

"Yokohama!" Lucy cheered, jumping up in excitement.

"Yokohama!" Levy repeated her actions, before the two started jumping about in a small circle.

Gajeel grumbled, looking away as he rolled his eyes.

Natsu laughed lightly, putting his weight on his right leg as he planted his hand hand on his hip. "You're, uh, having fun, Lucy."

The blonde paused, and snapped her head towards Natsu. She gave him a quick smile, tearing away from Levy to grab Natsu's wrist, being careful not to intertwine fingers. "Of course! This is Yokohama! The most populated city in Japan! Come on, have some fun, Natsu! You barely show any type of excitement when you come to these type of things."

Natsu stared at her, his brows furrowed. "Lucy, thanks to you I've missed like 5 days of pay. And just so you know," he leaned in towards her ear, "I'm in Gray's flippin' debt."

Lucy's eyes went wide, and she stepped back to burst out laughing.

"Oh my - Oh my god!" She crossed her arms over her ribs, leaning over as laughter came out of her.

"S-Shut up! Just shut up! Dammit, I already feel embarrassed just by thinking about it!" he cried, crossing his arms over his chest as he was released from Lucy's grip.

Gajeel raised a brow, taking a quick glance at the duo.

Slowly, he walked around them to the blue-haired woman.

"Are those two idiots dating?" he mumbled, trying to work out what type of relationship they were in.

Levy laughed nervously. "I don't... I don't think so. I mean, they met the day we went to Osaka."

"They're progressing faster than us."

"T-They are?" Levy squeaked, looking up in attempt to look at her taller friend.

Gajeel stared down at her, his red eyes intimidating.

"Well, yeah. I mean, look at 'em. We've known each other for like 5 months and we're not even dating. Those two have known each other for 5 fucking days and you can already see them going on dates."

Levy frowned slightly, her attention adverting back to her best friend laughing at the pink-haired man. Granted, she liked Gajeel, but could they really date, considering their differences?

"Wait, what do you mean, 'we're not even dating'? I mean, we could date!" Levy cried, a determined look on her face.

Gajeel raised a brow, a slightly amused look on his face. "Gehe. Right. Make it happen, Shrimp."

The blue-haired woman puffed out her cheeks, and she turned away, childishly crossing her arms over her small chest in attempt to puff it out. "I will! Just watch me!"

She looked over to the other pair, and saw Natsu poke Lucy's cheek, which was puffed out for some reason.

"Stop that, Natsu!"

"But it's so fun."

"No! Stop it! Stop poking my cheek like that, Natsu! I'll hit you."

"You punched me yesterday. I can take it."

"You're so mean."

The blonde starting swatting Natsu, who merely chuckled before starting to laugh. Her hands landed on his stomach, just below the pectorals, and she could feel his ribcage vibrate with his laughter.

The black-haired man dramatically cleared his throat, tearing the other duo apart. "Right. Can we get to the hotel now? That stupid road drip killed my fucking neck."

He walked over to the boot, tearing the lid open, before the Fairy Tail employee came over and helped him with the luggage. "Oi, Salamander."

"Huh?"

Natsu craned his neck to look at the taller male whilst the girls happily skipped ahead of them.

"Are you and Bunny-Girl, like, dating?"

It took exactly 1 minute and 37 seconds to register that question in his mind, before he a dark red blush coated his cheeks.

"Uh, well, um, w-we, L-Lucy and I, we're just..." he trailed off unsure how to answer before he settled on one. "We're just friends..." he mumbled.

"Then do you think you'll ever date her?"

It took shorter time to register the second question. "Well, I dunno. I mean, my mind's telling me, 'no, don't start dating her,' whilst my heart is all like, 'ask her out, dammit! It might be your only chance!', so you know. Why?"

The red-eyed man shrugged, carrying the large bags that he and Natsu had brought with them.

"No reason," he replied. "Just wondering if you were actually hittin' it off with her."

Natsu nodded, a slight blush still on his cheeks as his mind absently wondered dangerously towards the blonde author.

* * *

"So, who's bunking with whom?" Lucy asked, holding two sets of keys in her hands.

"Well, I need to catch up with Lu, so I have dibs on Lu!" Levy called, a wide grin on her face.

The two males looked at their significant others with shock written across their faces.

"What?!" they both screamed, before slapping their hands over their mouths and standing back up straight to try and not attract any more attention than they already had.

"Lucy, I am not going in the same room as that crappy moron," Natsu complained, a pleading look in his eyes as he attempted to convince his friend to change her mind.

"Sorry, Natsu. I _really_want to bunk with Levy tonight, but if we go on another road trip another day with some others, I'll bunk with you, okay?" She patted him on the shoulder, before grabbing his wrist to place the other set of keys in his hands. "Have fun, Natsu!"

Natsu and Gajeel both stared after the two girls, before Natsu clenched his fist. "Look, you big, metal.. tin can! I'm not gonna bunk with you! I do not even want to be talking to you right now, but because Lucy is here and she'll punch the crap out of me if I don't follow her stupid orders, I'm gonna put up with it!" he yelled, scowling.

Gajeel turned his head towards the other male, before smashing heads with him. "Yeah, same here as well, Salamander! I don't even want to see the _sight_of you!"

"Oh, piss off, Gajeel. We've only known each other for one day and I know that I hate you so fucking much!"

The two growled at each other, looking ready to pounce and fight, but was interrupted by the receptionist at the desk.

"E-Excuse me, I don't intend to involve myself in this matter, but would you two be kind enough to take this fight upstairs or outside?"

"Just shut up!" they yelled simultaneously, one of them stomping towards the elevator, spamming the up arrow button, whilst the other stomped his way outside.

"What should we do first?!" Levy asked, her face brighter than the sun as she grinned at Lucy.

Lucy scratched the back of her head, clutching the strap of her bag for support. "I don't know."

"Lu, that's the worse answer ever," Levy replied, her voice monotone.

Gajeel dropped his hand on Levy's head, slightly ruffling her hair. "I heard that they had a pretty good Chinatown up here in Yokohama. Apparently it's beast."

Lucy nodded, agreeing the male. "It's true. I've been there, and it's amazing. Their restaurants are quite good."

Natsu scoffed, turning his head away, staring off in another direction as they stood outside of the hotel they were staying at.

"No way. I'm not going anywhere with you. I'd rather be somewhere else with Lucy than at a freaking restaurant with you, tin can," he insulted, a scowl slowly working back onto his face.

The opposing male just snorted. "Fuck it. I don't care."

Gajeel had mysteriously gone off somewhere before, and had come back from his trip about 30 minutes after.

_Natsu was the one who ended up spamming the elevator button, but was only greeted by crowded families coming out, and had nearly no chance of getting in an empty or near-empty box to travel up in._

_20 minutes later, after waiting for more families to flood out, he was greeted by Levy and Lucy._

_"Oh, Natsu! What are you doing? Where's Gajeel?" Lucy had asked him, looking around as she turned her head in multiple directions._

_"Eh, that idiot stormed off," he had answered her question, shrugging at little as he ignored the blue-haired woman's panicked expression until the last minute. "What?"_

_"Gajeel doesn't know his way around Yokohama! Heck, he probably doesn't even know the location of the hotel!" she'd cried, flailing her arms around in panic._

_The pink-haired male raised a brow, crossing his arms over his chest. "He has GPS, doesn't he? I mean, it's 2016. Tech has come pretty far from... well, whenever it was invented."_

_Lucy nodded, agreeing with his point. "He's right. It's not university anymore, Levy. Technology is way more advanced now."_

_"How advanced, Lu? I know Gajeel can use a phone like any old 26-year-old, but I don't think his GPS is even on!" she cried, the volume of her voice getting higher by the second._

_The same receptionist that told Natsu and Gajeel to quieten down had told them to quieten down, and Natsu had been ready to stomp over there and give him a fair beating._

_Sighing, the blonde author grabbed his arm, keeping him back from going over there and doing just that - beating the receptionist up in front of multiple, innocent people. "Don't. You're gonna get us into trouble. I don't need to tell you again, this isn't the UK or America. It's Japan, capisce?"_

_"Mm," he thought about it for a moment, before barely nodding. "Yeah, 'kay."_

_Levy took a quick glance at her two friends, curiosity gleaming in her eyes. "Should we take this outside before anything happens? I mean, Gajeel could meet with us outside."_

_They all grunted in agreement, pushing through crowds as Lucy tightly gripped the sleeve of Natsu's dress shirt, like a child who was desperate not to get to lost within a superstore full on strangers._

_They all sighed heavily, in unison, once they arrived outside back into the chilly November air._

_Lucy had immediately let go of his sleeve, and clasped her hands behind her back to hide anything that had happened._

_Levy looked around, left and right, frowning as she saw no sight of Gajeel anywhere._

_"Oh, hey guys."_

_The other turned their heads towards the voice, all of them seeing Gajeel with a disinterested look on his face._

_"Gajeel!" Levy squealed, a bright grin on her face as she hopped over to him and hugged him._

_"Well, at least you're here."_

"Tch, I'm still ain't happy," Natsu complained, clicking his tongue.

"Natsu, stop it."

"I really don't like this guy, Luce. He keeps pissing me off."

"Like Gray does, or worse?"

"Like that snow queen does!"

"Then just ignore him."

"But I can't if he's, like, standing right there, can I?!"

Their yelling had attracted attention, but not enough attention to form a full crowd around them.

Lucy shook her head, sighing as she did. "Listen, Natsu, just quiet down. We're beginning to get people staring, and don't you dare start speaking English. You know I don't understand."

He sighed as well, scratching the back of his head. "Lucy, can we just go somewhere? Anywhere from them? I feel like I wanna hurt Gajeel by just being a couple meters away from him."

"Fine." She ran her hand through her hair, then clutching the strap of her bag. "Let's go." The blonde grabbed his wrist, pulling him along in a different direction.

Pulling out her phone from her coat pocket, she unlocked it, dodging pedestrians and dragging Natsu along as she was doing something on her phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Texting Levy that we're splitting up in pairs. I told her we'll be meeting in Chinatown at one of the restaurants in about an hour. She's choosing."

"What, why?"

"Because Gajeel and her are going to Chinatown and we're not."

He didn't ask any more questions after that, and let himself get taken somewhere with unfamiliar surroundings.

"This is..."

"A light house," she finished for him. "I guess it's a bit like the Skytree, in a way."

He raised a brow in her direction, his lips tugging upwards ever so slightly. "Not bad."

Lucy gave him a quick smile. "Well, yeah. It's actually the tallest land lighthouse in the world."

"No," he gasped, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. "I never would've guessed, Lucy."

Slowly, she turned her head away, smirking a little as she did, before grabbing his wrist to enter, joining the queue to the information counter.

The pink-haired male breathed out slightly as he lifted his head, taking in his surroundings. "Wow. I'm just saying, but this is _really_similar to the Skytree." But then something hit him. "Damn, I need to get out of more," he mumbled under his breath as they moved forward slightly in the queue.

Snickering, the author look away as the male blushed in embarrassment. "S-Shut up! Dammit, don't laugh at me like that, Lucy!"

She waved a hand at him, though her quiet laughter continued to ring.

However, it all stopped when someone suddenly decided to nudge forward, pushing Lucy which made her laughter cease immediately.

Luckily, though, Natsu caught her in the nick of time, thanks to all of his 'training' and 'accidents' that were caused by Gray at Fairy Tail.

"Watch it," Natsu warned, helping the younger woman stand up properly again.

"Sorry," the person behind them apologized. "I accidentally tripped."

Lucy quickly thanked the pink-haired waiter for catching her, and he merely smiled at her back, teasing her to be more careful.

"Shut up! Just because you're so skilled at catching trays back at Fairy Tail."

Natsu's eye twitched. "Listen, you. I'm only here because Gajeel's with the, uh, blue-haired girl, I dunno her name."

"Her name is Levy, and you shouldn't insult her. If you do, in any way, shape or form, I will punch you."

Natsu groaned, and turned away once they finally reached the front.

"Yes, two tickets for admission," Lucy said, smiling at the woman by the desk.

The woman nodded, a somewhat forced smile on her face, as if she didn't want to work there. Black hair framed her face, splitting in the middle of her forehead. The bottom of her hair was in braids, and on top were there were two buns.

"1500 yen," she mumbled, holding a gloved hand out.

Were they allowed to wear gloves? She wasn't sure. Last time she came, there was a woman with silver hair and a blue rose attached to it asking for her money.

Lucy started digging through her purse, taking out the appropriate amount of money to give.

She caught sight of her name tag, _Minerva_.

The Roman Goddess of wisdom, strategy, trade and the arts.

By her posture, she didn't look like it.

"Move along," Minerva hissed at her, her own eyes piercing with anger.

Catching Minerva's actions, Natsu hastily grabbed Lucy's wrist, almost slipping his hand into hers, but luckily prevented it from happening.

"Let's hurry up, Lucy," he muttered under his breath, dragging her along through the other crowds as they headed to the second floor for the souvenir shops.

"Look at this, Gajeel. Lu would love this for her phone."

The said male took a quick glance at what the blue-haired woman was attempting to show him, and he snorted.

"That's bullshit. Bunny Girl wouldn't like that. I mean, the blue cat? Really?" he snorted once more. "Lily is way better."

Levy pouted. "But Lu really likes Happy. She has pyjamas of Happy. She even has a poster."

"Then what about Salamander?" The nickname he gave the waiter rolled off his tongue bitterly, as if he didn't even want to think about his name. "What does he like?"

Levy stood up, the item in hand. "I'm not sure. Me and Lu haven't really discussed him. Ooh, I'm going to tease Lu about her and Natsu!"

"Shrimp, you're side-tracking. Come on."

"Sorry." She grabbed her red bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "I think Natsu likes Happy as well, but I'm not so sure. Well, let's just buy this for Lu first!"

Levy skipped over to the cashier near the other end of the shop, and she placed it on the counter before beginning to dig through her bag for the amount of yen she needed.

"Thank you," she said, grabbing the bag off the cashier which had the gift for her best friend in. "What do you want to buy, Gajeel?"

The said male grumbled, looking through the items. "I want to buy a shirt."

"Well, then let's go into a different store," the blue-haired 23-year old suggested, smiling at him.

Gajeel glanced at him, his eyes asking why they would go into a different store. "Why?" he asked aloud, his head turning away as he proceeded to walk out nevertheless.

"Obviously, we need to buy a shirt for you."

"It's not for me. It's for that Salamander. He has crappy fashion sense, that bastard."

"You're already buying gifts for him? You've only known him for about a day, and you're already buying his _gifts_?!"

"Shut the hell up, you're making it sound like me and that idiot are... you know... dammit, Levy! Why're you making everything so hard?!"

The dark-haired man started to yell nonsense as he stomped through Chinatown, earning himself weird looks from people who were in shops in Chinatown, whilst Levy attempted to keep up with the man who was speeding up by the minute.

"And I brought him along for this," she mumbled angrily under her breath, clutching the bag containing the small gift for her best friend.

* * *

"Man, that food was nice! It was nice to eat Chinese once in a while," Natsu commented, grinning like a idiot as the four of them strolled out of the restaurant.

Lucy gave him a wide smile, her brown eyes gleaming with satisfaction. Of course, she had been to the restaurant that Levy picked multiple times, and it was good.

"Granted, England doesn't have Chinese restaurants as good as these, but they're not bad," he then said, starting to ramble on about the country he used to live in.

Gajeel rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, how was the place you two went to?"

Lucy glanced at him. "Oh, it was good. We bought a few souvenirs for Mira and the others at Fairy Tail."

Levy then gasped. "Oh, yeah, Lu! Here you go! We bought you something when we went to one of the souvenir shops before," she stated, shoving the plastic bag into her open arms.

Lucy gave her best friend a hug, nearly crushing her fragile body in the process. "Aw, Levy! You didn't have to do that, you know!" she said, smiling even wider as she peeked into the bag. "Oh my god! A Happy phone charm! It's so cute. Look at this, Natsu."

"Ow!" he cried, before his onyx eyes saw the phone charm hanging from her fingers. "Holy shit!" he loudly hissed. "That's Happy! Levy, did you get this for her?" He pointed at the object, and the 23-year old nodded. "Dammit, you should've bought me one too."

Levy frowned a little, poking her index fingers together. "Sorry, Natsu. I didn't know which one you liked and buying all of them would've been a waste of money."

Gajeel snorted. "How can you like that stupid blue cat? Pantherlily is the best and is off the charts compared to that one."

"What? You wanna go? You wanna flippin' go?"

The two women stood to the side as their companions clashed heads, scowling at the other.

"Lu, will these two ever learn?"

"I don't know, Levy. They're in their 20's... I guess they could do worse."

"I guess."

* * *

"But I wanna bunk with Luce...!" Natsu whined, fake tears starting to pool up in his eyes. "I mean, just think about it! Me and him the same room is practically impossible!"

Lucy sighed, attempting to push the pleading male off her. "Natsu, I already told you. Next time, me and you will bunk, okay? It's late and we're leaving tomorrow, so put up with it."

He frowned, standing up straight as he scratched the back of his head. "Man, you're so mean. I tried so hard as well."

Gajeel snickered, before he felt Levy's elbow jabbing into his sides. "Ow," he grumbled. "Let's go, Salamander. Arguing with them won't get us anywhere."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know," he replied, waving a hand as he closed the door behind him.

* * *

**I know I said I'd upload this yesterday, but I was busy with stuff, so there. **

**Btw, the new FT opening had so much NaLu! And the ending featured the Exclipse Celestial Spirits!**

**But Chapter 415 though.**

**Anyhoo, review whilst you still can!**


	12. Le Yokohama Hour II

**Lucy Power Project!**

* * *

**Oh my God! I'm terribly sorry for the lack of updates! School has gotten in the way so many times!**

**Anyway, please enjoy this for now.  
**

_**Warnings!: AU. Expect OOC. Hints of other couples. Cursing.**_

* * *

_12: Le Yokohama Hour II_

_With the last day of the vacation just ahead of them, Lucy suddenly gets a call that automatically plans the rest of the day of their return back to Tokyo. A bet between a familiar group plays out; who will win and who will lose?  
_

* * *

Lucy hummed as she tied her hair back in a quick ponytail, her actions hasty and rushed as Levy packed their suitcases behind them.

"Levy, is it okay if you continue packing and I get the boys? They're probably at each other's throats as this hour," she said, smiling nervously at her own comment.

The blue-haired woman was so absorbed in her task that she didn't even hear the question being said.

"Hm, oh well," the author shrugged, stepping out of her room and down the hall, where she heard multiple sounds of crashing and yelling from the room.

"Ah, jeez," she sighed, shaking her head before raising her fist and rapping lightly on the door. "Natsu? Gajeel? It's Lucy. Are you guys in there?"

"J-Just hold on!" Natsu's voice.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Gajeel.

"Shut up, prickface! I'm opening that door for Lucy!" Natsu.

"No, I am!" Gajeel.

These two voices bounced back and forth in Lucy's head, and by the minute, they began to piss her off even more.

"Just open the damn door!" she screeched, her expression holding fury and enraged anger. "God, you two are children, I swear."

She heard the door click and saw it open when she cracked an eye open. "Finally, Natsu. Are you - you're not even ready! We're going downstairs to the lobby in 10 and you're. Not. Even. Ready!" She jabbed her sharp, manicured nails into his chest, to which he winced at.

"Overslept," he mumbled, sorefully rubbing the sore spot on his chest. "Wait - 10 minutes?! Crap, I gotta get ready!"

"So… how's Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, replacing the pink-haired male's place by the doorway.

His tall figure loomed over the blonde, but he was merely a foot and possibly a couple of inches taller than her, so there wasn't that much height difference from her view.

"Levy's packing our things in our room," she answered, casually pointing down the hallway to their room. "You can go ahead and check up on her if you want."

"Sure."

Resisting the urge to roll her auburn eyes at his plain answer, the smile on her face dissolved the rolling of the eyes, and she brought her attention back to the dressing male who was simultaneously trying to brush his teeth.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit…!" He hissed, almost choking on the bathroom utensil in his mouth. "Lucy, don't just stand there!"

"I can't help you dress without looking, can I?!" she argued back, the angry and argumentative side of her flashing through instantly.

"Then turn away!" A desperate look was plastered, and he watched the woman twirl around before he spat out the toothbrush into a nearby bin, returning to his pants. The staff won't notice, surely.

"Gahh, you little piece of shit, button, button button," he muttered angrily, his eye twitching with passing seconds

"If you need help, I can help you."

"I-I don't need help," he replied, stuttering.

After a few minutes of mumbled struggle, Natsu had finally put on his pants and was looping his belt around his waist. "You can go without me."

"Gajeel and Levy haven't finished yet," the blonde replied, not bothering to glance over her shoulder.

"Huh. Maybe they're getting it down."

The blonde spluttered, her position switching as she covered her mouth with her mouth. Quickly, she leant over to avoid any further embarassment, but it quickly turned into something where she turned around, finally seeing what Natsu was doing, which was stripping off his shirt at that moment.

"What timing," he commented, throwing the shirt behind him miraculously on top of the bag near the wall, next to Gajeel's own bag. "Oh, crap. Anyway, you wanna pick out a shirt for me?"

Cracking an eye open, her face immediately went red, from her collar to her ears to the very top of her forehead. "No, I won't!" she screeched, taking a step forward to grab the door handle and slamming the door closed, automatically locking it."Oh, no."

Silence erupted, but regardless, it gave Natsu some privacy to himself so he could get dressed without interruptions.

Kneeling in front of the bag, he took his shirt off the top of it and plunged his free hand into it, feeling around until he pulled out a dark red shirt with a dragon pattern on the bottom right corner, outlined white to stand out amongst the dark, plain color.

He quickly slipped the shirt on and whistled casually as he strolled into the bathroom, picking out thick strands of hair hanging over his forehead, before he took hold of nearby hair gel, applying it to the front of his hair to perfect his look.

"Okay, ready," he announced, opening the door, expecting the blonde woman standing outside waiting for him.

Unfortunately, there was no sign of her. "Oh, what the hell, Lucy!" He sighed, slowly trudging back inside.

"Oi, shitface!" He heard Gajeel's voice from just down the hallway, and he poked his head around the corner just to be sure it was his voice he heard.

Of course, it was.

"What do you want?" Natsu grumbled, stepping backwards into the hotel room as he organized everything as it was when he entered. "And organize your stuff."

"Why would I? There are janitors to do that," Gajeel fought back, grabbing their zipped bags from the floor.

"Well, obviously to make it look nice."

Giving him a look, Gajeel snorted in confusion. "Did Bunnygirl rub off on you or something?"

Natsu attempted to smooth out the creases in the bed, but alas no avail. "No, Lucy didn't rub off on me. Just some thinking and I'm a new guy, okay?"

"'New guy,'" Gajeel laughed. "That's just stupid."

"Oi. Maybe I did some thinking and crap, but that doesn't mean it's stupid."

"Say, I heard you came from the UK, and that ice bastard is from the USA. Pretty sure there are some differences," the red-eyed man gave his companion a look.

Standing up straight, he shrugged nonchalantly. "I dunno. Probably so."

"So what's different?"

"Virtually, nothing," he answered. "Well, except word differences, it's all the same."

A familiar blue-haired woman peeked her head around the doorway, a small smile on her face. "Hey, Lu said we're ready to go. Are you guys ready?"

The two taller men turned their heads towards her, and hastily gave her a thumbs up in approval.

"All right! I'll go tell Lu that you're nearly ready!"

* * *

"All right, Shrimp. The luggage and crap are loaded. Go get Bunnygirl and Salamander."

Gajeel huffed, closing the boot of the car, hands landing on his hips.

Sending him a small, bashful smile, Levy nodded. "Thanks, Gajeel! I owe you one!"

The blue-haired bookworm hurried over to her best friend, before she heard her phone ring from afar.

"Oh, hello?"

"_Hello, Ms. Heartfilia? It's Ultear._"

"Oh, Ultear. What's up?"

"_No, I was just wondering if you mind Meredy taking over my job for the time being whilst I go to France. I'm visiting my mother's grave soon, and I'd like to get there on time._"

"It's fine, it's fine. Sorry for your loss, Ultear."

She heard light laughter on the other line. "_It's fine, Ms. Heartfilia. It's been a couple of years since, anyway, so it's no big deal._"

"I see. Is that all you needed to tell me before you go?"

"_Ah, yes. Meredy and the others are going to Fairy Tail in Tokyo to meet you. We've already reserved a table so there's no need to do that. Um, I think they'll be there at around... 1-ish? Somewhere around that time, I think._"

"Thank you, Ultear. That's all fine. I was just heading back from Yokohama right now anyway, so we'll be there in about an hour."

"_Okay. I gotta go to the airport now. See you_."

"See you later."

Quickly, she clicked the button to hang up and stuffed her phone back into her coat pocket.

"Let's go." She pointed towards the car with a smile on her face.

Natsu raised a brow, confused about her sudden change of attitude. "Are you okay?"

Lightly, she laughed and waved a dismissing hand in front of her face. "I'm fine, fine. I said, let's go. You have customers coming at 1. And I have a meeting with them."

His expression changed to one that resembled surprise. "What?! 1 o'clock?! Fucking hell, we should go!"

The other three smiled bashfully at him and steadily followed him towards the car which stood there nearby.

The car was silent on the way home.

Lucy rhythmically drummed her fingers against her lap and quickly stole a glance towards the pink-haired driver next to her, who seemed to be mirroring her actions of drumming his fingers.

"Hey, Lu. Shall we have some music?" Levy asked, smiling nervously at her best friend who kept stealing glances every 5 seconds.

"S-Sure. Natsu, what do you want?"

The man shrugged casually, grinning at her. "Whatever. I don't mind. Oi, Gajeel. What do you want?"

Gajeel stayed silent in his seat. "Dunno," he answered. "You know, Salamander, if we keep going around in circles, we're never gonna pick anything. Just turn the radio on and see what's there."

Huffing, he extended his hand towards the radio but instead of feeling the familiar mechanics, he felt what seemed like somebody's hand.

"Sorry."

It was Lucy's.

Her hand quickly slipped out of reach and left the pink-haired male messing with the mechanisms himself.

"Tch, dammit," he mumbled under his breath as he tried to keep his eyes on the road whilst messing with the radio.

"I'll do it," Lucy softly offered, gently grabbing hold of his wrist and placing it on the steering wheel. A few minutes later, blasting music came out of the radio and the blonde had to instantly turn it down.

"Owww! Heck, what music is this?!"

"BoA."

"Oh, you mean that South Korean singer? She's really good!" Levy commented, a wide grin on her face. "Lu, turn it up!"

"As you wish," the blonde grinned herself and slowly began to turn up the volume of the music.

The author then squealed suddenly, as a slow tune played. "Levy! Levy! This is our jam! Let's sing along!"

The two females started singing, in tune to the music, swaying side to side as their voices sent the song to the high heavens, and the males just laughed along.

"_So I'm flying, _becoming the wind  
I'll embrace the person I was that day  
_It's my life,_ I'm here  
I know that I grow a little stronger every time I lose my way!"

The two girls sang in harmony as the song then came to a close, and Natsu then pulled into his parking space in the car park, immediately turning off the radio.

"That was so good!" Lucy cheered, a giant grin on her face as she opened the car door, stepping out to feel the fresh, cold air of a new day brushing against her skin.

The two boys then went to unloading the luggage, and Natsu came back with his bag and Lucy's suitcase. "Lucy, what time do your editors come?"

"Around 1-ish," she answered, getting hold of the suitcase from him, quickly mumbling a thank you. "You're welcome to serve us, by the way."

He smirked in her direction and then burst out laughing a little. "Well, sure. Why not?" he replied in a mocking tone. "No, I can't. Gray wants me to drive him to the stupid airport."

"Why? Is he going somewhere?"

"I think so. It didn't look he wanted to pick somebody up, and he had luggage. He didn't tell me where the hell he was going," Natsu scratched the back of his head in confusion as he thought about the conversation they had.

Shaking her head, she sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter now. We should head back. Meredy and the others are going to be here in about 2 hours. Levy and Gajeel can go back to my place if you want. Um, Levy, could you please...?"

The blue-haired woman gracefully took the heavy suitcase but it was almost instantly taken by Gajeel who stood near her. "Sure, Lu. Good luck, too! See you later! Takeout, right?"

"Yeah, takeout!" the author called back, waving goodbye to her two retreating friends.

Natsu kept stealing glances in her direction when they walked back to Fairy Tail.

It was disturbing, as much as she'd like to admit.

"What?" she finally asked, giving him a look as they stood outside the entrance of the small shop next to the coffee shop. "Just say what you want to say already, dammit."

"You have takeouts?"

The look he gave her back made her lean back a little in surprise.

Certainly, she didn't expect that coming from him, but what can you expect when you've only known him for a week?

"Well, yeah," she answered, shrugging her shoulders as she tilted her head in confusion. "I mean, I burn the calories off anyway, so no big deal."

The male nodded. "Right. That's not the big deal. The big deal is that you have takeout food as it freaking bad for you. Lucy, you need proper food. Like, actual dinner and stuff."

"Are you suggesting that I got to dinner... with you?" Quickly, she pointed at him, also giving him a questioning look to clarify.

"Sure. Wouldn't be that bad. Obviously, not a date, but a date if you're looking at it the wrong way." He cheekily grinned at her with the smallest tint of pink ghosting upon his cheeks. "So, uh, tonight at 8? I'll take you to a 3-star, 4-star restaurant. 5-star's way too expensive."

Tilting her head, she furrowed her brows with a slight smile. "Aren't 3-star and 4-star restaurants expensive, anyway? I thought you were broke."

"Gray gave me some emergency cash. Tonight is an emergency."

Playfully rolling her eyes, Lucy gave him a smile once more. "All right, then. Well, I'll be back here in about an hour. Meredy and the group are coming here; Ultear won't be present. She's at the airport."

"Gotcha," Natsu confirmed, nodding his head before beginning to flick through his phone casually.

* * *

Meredy frowned, brushing down her skirt as they stopped in front of the coffee shop.

"Is Ms. Blondie already here?" Zancrow asked, crossing his arms behind his head. "I mean, if she's already here why don't she like, greet us?"

Bluenote gave him a quick glare, his lips tightened in a straight line. "Be quiet, Zancrow. You don't know if Ms. Heartfilia is here. Meredy, I suggest we go inside."

Smiling at him, the pink-haired woman gleefully nodded. "Okay!"

"Oh, hey guys. You're here," Natsu's voice said, the door suddenly pulling out of the woman's grasp from the outside. "Oops. Sorry. Anyway, wanna come in? Your table's just over there."

The group sluggishly made their way to the assigned table, dragging their eyes around the place, noticing the lack of customers.

"Where did everybody go?" Zancrow scowled. "D'you chase 'em off?"

Natsu snorted, following the group to their table. "Don't be stupid. Rush hour's finished. But there's gonna be more of them to come. I can tell you that for sure.."

As they sat around the table, they all stared at the empty seat in between Meredy and Zancrow.

"Who's the other person?" Natsu nodded, a casual tone washing over his words.

Meredy locked eyes with him and gave him a kind smile. "Ms. Heartfilia. We're only waiting for her."

"I see."

A silence dropped over them, but luckily before it dragged on for too long, Natsu cleared his throat to catch their attention.

"Anyway, coffee?"

"Yes!" they all exclaimed, glad that somebody other than them shattered the awkward tension.

Natsu had returned with the tray of multiple cups of coffee when the blonde came rushing in, a bashful smile on her face.

"You're late," the pink-haired man deadpanned.

"Sorry, sorry. I was on the phone with Erza."

Quickly, Natsu scoffed and pulled out her chair as he was standing directly behind it. "What do you want?"

"Coffee," she answered, placing her bag down.

The rest of her group placed down their cups and leaned in to listen to her words.

"Anyway, shall we get on with this, uh, meeting?"

* * *

**Gah. Sorry for the the major lack, guys. Contract of Magic will be updated; Puppet Dolls, not so much.  
**

**Review?**


End file.
